


Not Magical Students - Prologue

by IZWritings



Series: Not Magical Students [1]
Category: Twisted-Wonderland (Video Game)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:00:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 22,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26807749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IZWritings/pseuds/IZWritings
Summary: Seven strangers wake up in a strange new world. A world that is curiouser and curiouser as they explore a magical school, a talking cat, and students who are more challenging then they're worth. In a world not their own: Twisted Wonderland.
Series: Not Magical Students [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2018999
Kudos: 16





	1. Strangers' Awakening!

**Author's Note:**

> I want to give credit to Shell_BB and Ryota's Musings for the translations: https://www.youtube.com/c/ShelBB  
> https://kanadesmusingsblog.wordpress.com/  
> This story is a classic "canon story with my babies in it" story. This is purely for fun and something I'm doing in my past time.  
> I don't own Twisted Wonderland or any of it's characters; this franchise belongs to Yana Toboso, Aniplex and Walt Disney Japan. I own the seven OC characters in the story, though inspired by current Disney Princess characters.  
> Any and all criticism, kudos, notes and whatever you want to comment is welcomed.
> 
> Have fun reading <3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stell is woken up from her slumber by...a talking, fire-breathing cat?

**Ah...my dear beloved.**   
**A lovely and noble flower of evil.**   
**Truly, you are the most beautiful of all.**

**Mirror, mirror on the wall,**   
**Who is the-**

_Seven ebony carriages, each carrying a coffin, arrive at a large castle._

**Those who are guided by the Dark Mirror.**   
**As long as your heart desires,**   
**take the hand that appears in the mirror.**

_Thorns and the air of darkness surrounds the magicians. A great beast, blue flames circling its body, roars mightily and deafening to the foes in front of it. One by one, the dark cloaked ones pull out wands, powerful magic surging through the instrument. However, though they try as they might, the beast is too powerful. No matter how much fire scorches its pelt, ice freezing the flaming bursts, or dark magic searing into the beast’s aura, nothing could stop it._

**For me. For them. For you.**   
**We are all running out of time.**

**No matter what**   
**never let go of my hand.**

  
◢▅◣Ξ◥▅◤Ξ◢▅◣Ξ◥▅◤

Rattle. Rattle. Shake.

Groaning awake from the sound, the girl peeked her eyes open. “Is it morning already..?” she said to herself. However, she was only met with darkness. No sun shining through her windows, not even the sound of any birds chirping.

Rattle. Rattle.

It sounds close as if right in front of her but muffled. It was as if she was in...What in the world? Before she could call out, she heard a disgruntled voice.

“Crap! People are coming! Gotta get a uniform while...”

Uniform? She could hear whoever this was trying to open something, groaning and wheezing.

“The lid is too heavy! Time for...my secret move!”

Last resort? Again, she is about to call out to let whoever this is to let them know she’s here when a blue fire suddenly erupts in front of her.

“Fi-fire!” she screams. It was all around her, blazing from the outside to the inside. Did this person light her on fire?! She wanted to lift her arms to cover her face, but that was then she realized how small her space was. She could barely move her arms, and her legs couldn’t even bend all the way. She was in a small space, unable to move, and all around her was a blue fire. Was she..?

Fortunately, the flames went away, and whatever blocked her vision broke down onto the floor. With the sudden light, everything was blurry before it became clear. No longer feeling as if she was on fire, she lifts herself out of the small space. Although she had to watch her footing and almost trips. Looking back, her jaw almost drops to the floor. The small space she was in...it was a coffin! Why was she in a coffin? However, looking around the room, it was filled with floating coffins, basked in a lime-green light. In the middle of the room was a dark mirror. Where was she? How did she get here? Did she die?

She ran up to the mirror until she saw her reflection. So far as she could tell, she was still her: her dirty blonde hair was still long and flowed nicely around her shoulders, her chestnut skin not paled by death, and her violet eyes were still vibrant and alive. The only thing that was indeed different was what she was wearing. Instead of her normal clothes or a nightgown, it was a long dark-violet robe, gold-embroidered designs covering it’s every curve and shape. A hood covered her head and some of her face. This was unusual; she would never wear something without a shade of pink, green, or blue on it. And yet...why she was wearing it was even odder. Why can’t she remember anything?

Looking back, she notices six other coffins were also lowered and had some flames on them. She may not know what’s going on, but she needed to help these poor souls from almost sharing the same fate as her. She ran to the nearest one and used the robe to take out some of the flames. As soon as the fire was gone, she moved onto the next. As she was busy putting out these small flames, she heard someone cough. Looking in the direction, she froze. It was small, furry and...did it just talk? It brushed itself off before speaking, the voice very familiar.

“Alright! Here’s what I’m looking for…” It stopped when it faced her. They both stared at each other, blinking for a few seconds. After those seconds, both of them screamed in shock. “Whaaaa! You! Why are you awake!?” it screamed at her. Now that she had a better look at it, she noticed the oddities of this creature. Although the black and white ribbon around its neck wasn’t the odd thing, it had blue flames coming from its ears and a forked tail.

“A talking raccoon?!” she exclaimed. Maybe it looked more like a cat, but it was also talking, so she could be wrong. Whatever it was, it took offense to that.

“Just who are you calling a raccoon! I am the great Grim, yanno?” She just blinked at it. “Ah well. You, human! Hurry and gimme those clothes! Otherwise, I’ll roast ya!” Suddenly, he runs towards her and jumps at her. Acting fast, she swung her arm out. Fortunately, it hit the creature, and it flew across the room, finally hitting the floor. Well...that was short-lived. Grim...who in their right mind calls their pet ‘Grim’? Or...is he owned? If he can talk, then maybe he can live by himself. But why did he need her clothes?

As if on cue, the coffins that weren’t floating suddenly lift up the lids. She backs up, watching all six lids open. From what she could tell, six figures lay inside. Perhaps, like her, they are also asleep and not dead. Maybe she’ll have a better understanding of what is happening if she talks to them. One of them groans awake, and she walks over to them. It’s also another girl, probably in her age group, but she was a little shorter. She had porcelain skin with a flush of red on her cheeks, short raven black hair with a white knotted headband looking like bunny ears. As the girl wakes up, her baby blue eyes blink the drowsiness from her vision before being helped out by the other. “Are you alright?” she asks the newly awakened girl. The raven-haired girl looks around before facing the other.

“Yes...I think. Do you know where we are?” she asks, instantly putting all questions to a halt. If she didn’t know, then the others might not either.

“Unfortunately, I do not. What is your name?”

“My name is Dove Carrolyn.” she answers, her questioning gaze turning curious. “And you?”

“I am Stellarmonia Philea. But you can just call me Stell, for short.” she answers. Dove smiles before looking around.

“Flying coffins? How curious…” While she looks around, Stell goes to help more out of the coffins. She helps another girl from the coffin as some others get out and look around. This girl has light sandy skin, shoulder-length dusty brown hair, and deep hazel eyes. As she brushed some of her hair from her shoulders, she noticed a choker peeking from underneath her collar with a pink rose in the center.

“How did I get here?” she asks, her voice slightly gruff, probably from waking up.

“I’m not entirely sure, but probably the same way we did.” Stell answers, directing her attention to the others before turning back to her. “I’m Stell, by the way.”

“Amelia. Amelia Rosen.” Stell nods to her before getting the attention of the others.

“Can I have your attention, please?” she says, her voice echoing in the vast room. Everyone turns to her, stopping any chit chat or exploring their surroundings. “Can we all gather around?” Once everyone gathers around, she takes notice of everyone. All of the gathered group are girls and all wearing the same robes.

“What’s going on?” one of them asks. She has deep bronze skin, the highlights of her features are her long, curly peachy-coral hair and ocean blue eyes. The girl next to her nods, taller than her by a few inches. She has light beige skin with freckles covering her cheeks. She has short, dusty orange hair, half of it lightly shaved, and bright yellow eyes. The other two girls look at her, seeing what she’ll answer with. One of them has suntan skin, short dark purple hair with two long strands flowing down the front, and chocolate brown eyes. The other girl has pale skin, snowy white hair tied up in two knots, and piercing icy blue eyes. Stell takes a breath before speaking.

“I don’t know what’s happening. I am as much in the dark as the rest of you. For the time being, maybe introductions are in order. One mystery out of the way.” she says to the others. Some nod, some don’t. It’s a start. “I’ll introduce myself first. My name is Stellarmonia Philea, Stell for short.” Everyone follows in a circle after that. Dove and Amelia introduce themselves before it’s the redhead’s turn.

“My name is Dolphina Seawardia. Nice to meet you all.” Next is the taller girl.

“I’m Alex Thebes, but just call me Alex.” she answers with a huge grin.

“I am Yasmina Awaba.” the short-haired girl says, a little prideful.

“...Ambrosia Antohallan.” the snowy-haired girl answers simply.

“Well,” Stell says after everyone is done. “now that we know each other a little better, it will be easier to get answers for everyone’s questions.”

“Maybe we can get answers from that raccoon there.” Alex says, pointing behind her. Raccoon? Uh...oh...She turns around, facing the creature from before. She freezes, wide-eyed: he is not happy.

“I said I’m not a freaking raccoon!” he yells. Bursts of blue flame come from his paws and light up around them. All six of them jump and scream, Amelia pulls Stell back from the rampaging creature. Stell looks around the room, noticing a large door.

“There!” she yells, pointing at the door for the others to see. They all run towards it and push it open. It was nighttime, the moonlight the only source of light showing them the way. The girls run down a long corridor, passing by empty room after empty room, before finding their way in a courtyard. It leads four separate ways, the middle has a well.

“Where to now?” Dove asks. After searching, Stell spots a building with the lights on.

“In there!” They all run in the direction of the building. Once they’re inside, it’s revealed to be a vast library. Green lighting surrounds it, and some of the books are floating, just like the room with the coffins.

“Where the hell are we?” Amelia questions. Stell hopes that this is all a dream; if it is, she needed to wake up! At least they were safe-

The door bursts open with blue flames, taking the ladies by surprise. They huddle to one of the bookshelves as the creature comes closer.

“Did you really think you could run away from me, humans?!” He yells. “Now, if you don’t want to get roasted, gimme those clothes!”

“Why does he want these so much?” Ambrosia asks.

“I don’t know.” Stell answers. The creature gets impatient. Before he can strike, something wraps around him—he yowls in surprise. The girls look at each other in confusion. Clearly, none of them did that.

“Ow! What’s with this cord?!” he exclaims, trying to get out of his bonds. A figure steps out from the darkness, a tall man dressed in dapper clothing, covered in a feathered cloak and top hat. He is wearing a raven-like mask over his eyes, leaving only glowing yellow dots as the eyes.

“That is not a mere cord! It is the whip of love!” the man exclaims. All the girls are in awe as the man turns to them. His demeanor turns from scary to kind. “Ah, I have finally found you.” he says, putting his hands on his hips. “You are the new students, correct?” Students? He shakes his head. “You shouldn’t do things like that, leaving the Gate on your own. Not only that, you have yet to tame your familiar, which has broken several school rules.” Familiar?

“Let me go! I’m not their freaking familiar!” the creature exclaims, still trying to get out of its bonds. The tall man walks over to the struggling creature.

“Yes, yes. That’s what they all say. Just quiet down for a moment.” With a snap of his fingers, a mouth gag is put over the creature’s mouth. He tries to speak, but he just muffles everything he says. The tall man turns back to the group of huddled girls. “Honestly, it’s unheard of for any new student to go through the school by themselves.” He sighs. “Are you this impatient?” None of them answer, too confused and shocked by the events. Fortunately, or unfortunately, he doesn’t notice. “Well, well. Come along then. The entrance ceremony is already well underway. Let’s go to the Hall of Mirrors.”

“Hall of Mirrors?” Dolphina asks.

“It is the room where you all woke up with all of the doors.” he answers. “All students who wish to attend this academy must pass through one of those doors to arrive here. Normally, students don’t awaken until we open the door with a special key, but-” So, that means the coffins were actually doors that led them all here. But...why?

“So the blue fire from that...thing opened our lids.” Yasmina says, pointing at the raccoon.

“So in the end, it seems the main culprit is this familiar.” the tall man concludes. The creature tries to talk but is still muffled by the bond. “If you were the one who brought him here, then you must take responsibility for him.”

“But... he’s not-” Stell tries to explain, but is stopped when the man looks at the clock.

“Oh...this is not the time for a long talk. If we do not hurry, we will miss the entrance ceremony. Come, come. Let’s be on our way.”

“Before that,” Stell starts. “Who are you?” He blinks at them, now the one confused, which troubles her.

“What’s this? Are you still dazed?” he asks. _I hope I’m still dreaming_ , she thinks. “Maybe your memory is distorted from magic transportation. Well, it does happen often. I will explain as we go. After all, I am quite kind.” he says with a smile. That somehow unnerves her more. He gleefully rushes them all out, the creature being dragged with them. They walk outside, back to the courtyard. As they walk, he turns back to them. After clearing his throat, his arms reach out to the surrounding building.

“This is Night Raven College: a place where magicians with talent come together. Twisted Wonderland’s most prestigious magicians training academy, and I am the headmaster of this academy, Dire Crowley.” he says the last part with a slight bow. This doesn’t help the girls understand at all.

“Ma-magicians?” Alex puzzles.

“Only those magicians seen as worthy by the Mirror of Darkness can attend this school. Chosen ones use the Gate and are summoned here from around the world. An ebony carriage carrying a Gate should have gone to meet you as well.” A black carriage? She definitely doesn’t remember that. The way he says that means that this is not a normal way to enter the school, so that only leaves the only question they all want to be answered: why them? Maybe she’s a secret magician and is just now finding out? The creature moves around, muffling angrily, but this is ignored by the headmaster. “Now then, on our way to the entrance ceremony. Hoods on, please!” With that, he turns and walks in the direction they just came from. Clearly, any more questions would have to wait. Everyone puts on their hoods before following the headmaster. Dove and Amelia come up on either side of Stell.

“At least now we know how we got here.” Dove whispered, seeing the bright side.

“But what now? We just go to this entrance ceremony then...what?” Amelia whispers, clearly trying to think ahead.

“We don’t have any other choice.” Stell whispers back. She wishes she could say more, but they’re both right. Who knows what’s going to happen next.

◢▅◣Ξ◥▅◤Ξ◢▅◣Ξ◥▅◤


	2. Break the Solemnity!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yasmina and the six other girls are led back to the Mirror Chamber to be "sorted" into their dorms. Things, however, don't go as planned.

By the time they get to the Mirror Chamber, something is definitely different. Before, it was empty with only the floating coffins and drenched in green flame. Now, as the headmaster opens the door, it is bustling with life. A string of light hangs above the ceiling, lighting the room brightly. The flames were now their normal red, and the room was more purple than black and green. The mirror in the middle of the room was still the same—the room, empty with only the floating coffins, now filled with others in cloaks. Ever since the headmaster opened the door, all eyes were on him...and them. One girl tries to pull the hood over her head more, trying to hide her face. Yasmina Awaba was not a huge fan of attention, especially a lot of it from strangers.

“I cannot believe you all,” he exclaims. “There were some students missing, so I went to go look for them.” The fact that he points them out does not help ease her at all. Immediately, all eyes fall on her and her little group. As much as she wanted to be away from here, she also didn’t want to go back to the library. She felt a tap on her shoulder, turning to see piercing blue eyes looking at her, belonging to Ambrosia. Everything about her stood out as cold, even her personality.

“You pull your hood over your face more, you’ll rip a hole in your hood.” she whispers, no expression on her face. Yasmina stopped pulling, but she was still uncomfortable. Instead, she looks at the headmaster who is turned to them.

“Now then, you’re the only ones yet to be assigned a dormitory. I will watch it over the raccoon. Step in front of the Dark Mirror. One at a time.” he says, pointing to the dark mirror. Slowly, the darkness swirls into a green flame. None of them move at first, wondering who should go up first. Stell turns to the group.

“Since I was the first to wake, I’ll go first.” she says, probably trying to reassure them all.  _ Well, it wasn’t going to be me _ , Yasmina thought to herself. The girl walks up to the mirror. It forms a face. Well, more like a creepy, pale masquerade mask, and it wouldn’t be as creepy until it talked.

“State thy name.” it said, voice echoing the hall.

“Stellarmonia Philea.” she answers.

“Stellarmonia...the shape of thy soul is…” it trails off. The room is silent, filled with tension and suspense. None of them knows what the answer is going to be and what that means for them.

“I do not know.”

It was clear no one expected that answer. Not them, not Stellarmonia, not even the headmaster.

“Come again?” the headmaster asked.

“I do not sense a spark of magic coming from this one.” it says. Dolphina goes up to the mirror.

“Dolphina Seawardia.” she says. Maybe she thought it was a mistake, she tried herself?

“I do not sense any magic coming from this one either.” it answers. “The color, the shape, all are nothing. Therefore, they are suited for no dormitory.” Immediately, the room erupts in murmurs. If the attention was unwanted before, it was unbearable. Everyone was shocked by this, in various forms. If none of them were magic-users, then why are they here?

“An ebony carriage would absolutely never go to meet someone, or several, who can’t use magic!” the headmaster says, clearly in disbelief. “In one hundred years, there has not once been a mistake in student selection, even for multiple students. So why in the world…” he trails off, trying to think. Everyone is so distracted by the events that just occurred, no one tries to stop the raccoon-thing from freeing from his bonds and spitting out the gag from his mouth.

“Then I’ll take their place!” he yells.

“Wait! You raccoon-” the headmaster yells and tries to catch him, but it runs away from him.

“Unlike those humans, I can use magic!” it exclaimed. “You should put me in the academy instead! If you want to see magic, then I will show you!” Oh no! Before any of them could stop him, he sends out bursts of blue flame all over the room. Yasmina ducks away, along with the others. Smoke and blue flames are covering the entire area. It was a mess.

“UWA! Hot! Hot! Hot!” someone was shrieking, a trail of blue flame on them. “My butt’s on fire!” While it was unfortunate, she’s not moving from her spot.

“At this rate, the school will be a sea of fire! Somebody catch that raccoon!” the headmaster yells. Is he...calling for his students to do it? This may be a whole different experience, but he’s the one in charge. So, he should be taking care of this situation, right? She looks to her side, seeing Stell thinking.

“Well, what do we do now, fearless leader?” she asks, a little snippy since all of this started. The blonde is a bit taken aback.

“I-I never said I was the leader.” she protests.

“You were the one who went to the mirror first! Now, not only do we not know why we’re here and exposed as non-magic users, but that raccoon is burning everything around us!” she yells back. The taller girl slides between them.

“We shouldn’t be yelling at each other. Maybe if we ask the raccoon nicely, he’ll stop?” she suggests. However, a flame burst comes their way, and they shield themselves from it.

“I said I am not a raccoon!” the creature yells. “How many times do I have to say it?! I am Grim, the one who will become a magician!”

“Does he think burning down the room he’s in will make him a magician?” Amelia asks, clearly unamused. While they are talking to each other, two students walk up. Although they have their hoods on, she can make out some of their features. One of them is a little taller than the other, with streaks of silver hair showing and wearing glasses.

“It certainly has moxie. Care to help me, Riddle?” he asks the other one. This one has streaks of wine red hair and could possibly be wearing red eyeliner.

“I can’t overlook those who break the rules.” he says. “Let’s get this over with.” Both of them pull out a long crystalized stick, each a different color. Are those...wands? She’s heard of them in fairytales, but nothing in real life. They run to the creature, chasing him while shooting sparks from the wands. While they chase him, Stell turns to her group.

“We should do something and start putting some of the fire out.” she suggests. Of course, she would.

“And get ourselves burned?” she questions. “Just let the magic users do it.”

“But we’re in the building.” Dolphina says, pointing out the obvious. “It couldn’t hurt.” Yasmina couldn’t believe that she was hearing this. Surely not everyone is going to-

“Okay then. Everyone, let’s try to help.” Everyone single of them gets up, even ice queen Ambrosia. Only Yasmina stays where she is, staying as far away from the chaos. This has nothing to do with her; she was safely at home one moment, then was brought here by a mysterious carriage and this off-the-walls school. She’s not responsible for anything that is going on, and she’s not going to put herself out there just to help out these strangers. She sees the chaos around her, the two students chasing after the creature, multiple students standing away from the danger of taking out some of the fire, and spotting the girls also stomping on some of the fire. Her eyes did notice the student with his butt still on fire. He...could just stop running and get himself out of it, yet he is running around like an idiot. No one is helping him at all…

_ Damn it! _ Yasmina gets up from her spot to find something to help this running idiot. She spots a table full of refreshments and sees a large juice bowl. An idea forms in her head: as long as she doesn’t get caught, all he has to do is run a little closer... He’s about to run past her when she flicks her wrist slightly to not make it too obvious. Suddenly, he is flown from the ground and into the punch bowl. On the one hand, she just helped put out the fire on this student. On the other hand, she probably just ruined his robe with all of this punch and almost exposed herself. He doesn’t seem to be upset about the ruined robe and is actually super happy that he’s not on fire. He immediately looks over to her, which she just realized she was the closest person there.

“Did...did you help me?” he asks her.

“Uhh...yeah.” she responds, looking away from him. “You were running so much, you didn’t even react when I threw you into that bowl.” What a great excuse. Only an idiot would believe that.

“Thank you so much!” he exclaims. He grabs her hands, surprising her. Wow...he  _ is  _ an idiot. Now that she could see him a little better, she could see that he had pearl gray strands of hair and garnet red eyes. He also seemed to be wearing gold earrings as well.

“Um...you’re welcome.” she simply says, trying to find a way out of this predicament and the guy’s grinning face. Then, someone shouted something that shouldn’t be said.

“Off with your head!”

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	3. Cruel Answer!/Bewildering Amnesia!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crisis averted, but the group of girls still need to find a way back home.

“Off with your head!” Everyone turns as the redhead boy shouted this and waves a light blast at the creature. Stell was actually worried. She was helping to take care of the fire when she heard the command. Was she actually going to witness a decapitation?! But instead, the creature suddenly has a heart-shaped color around its neck. At the same time, the remaining flames suddenly disappear. The girls join back up in a group, confused by everything once again. What just happened? This is so weird! The raccoon struggles to get the collar off as the boy speaks again. “Laws of the Queen of Hearts, number Twenty-Three: “One shall never bring a cat to a festival”. You, being a cat, means you’ve broken the rule. I shall have you leave at once.”

“I am not a cat.” Grim exclaimed. “I will burn this collar!” However, it seems like he is trying, but nothing happens. “Huh? I can’t use my fire…” The boy tsks at him, smirking a bit.

“You can’t use magic with that collar,” he explains. “You are no different than a regular cat.”

“What?! I am no pet!” Grim exclaimed. The boy shakes his head.

“Do not worry; I don’t want a pet like you anyway.” he said. Even though the creature was being a nuisance, he didn’t deserve that kind of coldness. “When you leave school, I will remove the collar.” The other boy walks up to him, clasping his hands together.

“How amazing of you, Riddle. Your unique magic can also seal magic.” he says. “I want it...I mean, I do not want it used on me.” For a split second, there was a dark look in his eyes before returning to that smiling grin. There was something more about that guy...The headmaster walks up to her group.

“Do something! That is your familiar, isn’t it? Take responsibility-”

“He’s not ours!” Amelia finally snaps. Instead of getting angry from her raising her voice, he just blinks at them.

“...huh? He isn’t yours?” he questions.

“Yes!” They all answer at the same time.

“We have been trying to tell you.” Dolphina says.

“You did?” He coughs, clearly embarrassed. “Well then. Let’s rid of him immediately off school. I will not turn him into soup, since I am nice after all.”

“...wha-what?” Dove questions, confused as to why he would say that, but he ignores her.

“Someone, please.” he orders. A few students grab him and take him towards the door. All the while, he’s still struggling.

“Let me go! I will-I will become a great magician!” His cries go unnoticed as he is escorted out of the building.

“Why was he so desperate to join?” Ambrosia questions, crossing her arms.

“Who cares?” says Yasmina. “We don’t have to deal with him anymore.”

“I feel kind of sorry for him, though.” Dove says, looking a little sad. They didn’t have a lot of time to think about this when the headmaster clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention.

“We had a bit of trouble along the way, but this brings the entrance ceremony to a close.” he announces. “Dorm leaders, please take your new students and go back to your dorms.” He looks around as if finally noticing something is missing. “Hmm? I haven’t seen Diasomnia’s dorm leader, Draconia.” Draconia? Now that the chaos is over, she finally notices something different. There are five of the students that are in a group. Along with the two that stopped the raccoon before, there was also the boy who was on fire before (now drenched in...punch?), a guy with chocolate brown hair and piercing summer green eyes, and a guy with champagne gold hair with lavender tips. There was also a floating...screen with a symbol on it? But she never noticed that someone was missing.

“Isn’t him not being here normal?” the brown-haired guy said, unimpressed.

“Huh? Don’t tell me that no one told him about the ceremony.” the pearl grey-haired one said.

“Well, then why didn’t you tell him?” the one with lavender tips said to the other.

“Hmm...but I’m not really close to him.” the other answered. As they were talking, she could hear the murmurs of some of the other students.

“Draconia...don’t tell me...they mean Malleus Draconia?”

“So it’s true. He _is_ enrolled in this school.”

“Scary…”

Everyone was murmuring about this Draconia guy. If he’s a part of this school, probably a dorm leader from how much they are talking about him, no one told him anything? She wanted to know why everyone is acting so...tense. Another student comes up with pale skin and black hair with magenta streaks in his hair.

“I was correct. I thought he might come, but Malleus really didn’t,” he said. Although he looked very young, he had the voice of an elderly man. Maybe he’s older than he looks? From everything that has been going on lately, she wouldn’t be surprised if he was using a spell to make him look younger. “It seems the invitation “never arrived” again.” Again? How many times has this happened?

“I am so sorry.” the silver-haired one apologizes. “We didn’t mean to leave him out.”

“He just has an unapproachable aura to him.” the red-haired boy says. Everything that they say about him makes him seem like a scary guy...She wished that she could meet him, just to see if the rumors were true.

“It’s fine.” the student says before turning to another group of students. “Diasomnia dorm students follow me. I hope he isn’t sulking…” Everyone leaves, following their dorm leaders (and hologram) out of the room. Once they all left, it was only Stell, the remaining girls, and headmaster Crowley. They all turn to the headmaster.

“Now, what happens?” Stell asks.

“I’m terribly sorry to say this, but...I must have you leave this school.” he says. “Those without any talent for magic cannot be allowed to attend class here.” The girls erupt into talking over each other, only to stop when Crowley puts his hands up. “There is no need to worry. The Dark Mirror will send you back from whence you came. Enter the Gate and picture your home clearly in your mind...” The girls follow him to the mirror. _Finally, this odd dream will be over soon,_ she thinks. The headmaster raises his arms to the mirror. “Oh Dark Mirror! Guide these lost souls back to where they came from!” he commands to the mirror. The mirror’s face stares…

And stares…

And stares…

After a long, tense moment of nothing happening, the girls look to Crowley, who is just as confused.

“...maybe I should try that again.” he says under his breath before clearing his throat. “Oh Dark Mirror! Guide these lost souls-”

“It is nowhere.” it answers. Everyone is shocked. “The place where they belong is nowhere in this world. It does not exist.”

“What did you say? This is unbelievable.” Crowley says, truly dumbfounded. “Well, the unbelievable has been on parade today.” The mirror just stares as they puzzle over their situation. “This is the first time something like this has happened since I became headmaster. What to do…” He turns to the group, looking at Stell. “Where are you from?”

“Ulstead, sir.” she answers. He takes a moment to think, but only looks more confused.

“I have never heard of such a birthplace.” he says, continuing down the line. But even from the others, from Villeneuve to Arendelle, none of them ring a bell to the headmaster.

“I know all of the birthplaces of my students, but I have never heard of any of yours.” he concludes. This is a bummer for all of them. First, they are transported to an unknown place, then told they aren’t qualified for the magical school, and now there’s no way to go home that they don’t even know? The headmaster gets their attention.

“Let us investigate in the library.”

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Of all the places they could be, Amelia was happy that they were back at the library. Now that everything was actually lit up, she could actually look around. The headmaster was at the main desk, looking through maps and multiple books. While he’s researching, the rest of them did other things to keep themselves occupied. Stell, Dove, Alex, and Dolphina talked on one side of the room while Ambrosia sat by the window, looking outside. She looks through the books, picking one up before Yasmina comes up next to her.

“I didn’t peg you as the reading type.” she says, looking at the book Amelia was holding. The other rolls her hazel eyes.

“Everyone has their hobbies. I’m assuming yours is observing the obvious?” she quips at her, making the other girl narrow her eyes at her.

“I’ll have you know that I enjoy a few reads myself. It helps when you spend your days at home.”

“You were homeschooled?” Amelia questions, raising her eyebrow.

“My family travels from place to place.” she explains, shrugging her shoulders. “Because they are so busy, I had private tutors to teach me everything. Never went into a real school environment until today.” Amelia nods. That would explain why she kept mostly to herself. “What about you?”

“I went to school with the other local kids. I liked doing my work, but reading was my pastime. I enjoyed reading about adventures and romance rather than focusing on making too many friends.” she explained, flipping through the pages. Yasmina scoffs, although it seems more in a cruel understanding than just being a jerk.

“So, in a way, this is new for both of us.” she says. Amelia looks back up at her, smiling as well.

“I guess so. Shame nothing I read prepared me for this.” she says.

“Maybe we’ll have a magic book to show us the way.” Yasmina says, jokingly. Although, if it did exist, then all of their problems would be solved.

“Hey, guys.” They look over, seeing Stell pointing over to the headmaster. Guess he’s done researching. Amelia puts the book back before walking with Yasmina over to the desk. The girls gather around the headmaster.

“Well?” Dove asks, slightly hopeful. But, judging his puzzled face, that hope quickly vanishes.

“There really is nothing.” he says. “Not only in the world map, but the name of your homes isn’t written in any history.” He looks up at the group. “Are you truly from where you say? You’re not lying to me, are you?” he asks, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. All of them shake their heads. “Looking at all this, you may have somehow been brought from another planet or from another world.”

“Another planet!?” Alex exclaims, that being the most shocking part.

“Parallel world?” Dolphina questions.

“Did you have anything on you when you came here?” he asks them. “Any kind of identification: a magic drivers’ license or a slipper…You appear empty-handed, though.” They all pat themselves down, seeing if they had anything. Sure enough, none of them had any items on them. Amelia tries to remember what happened before she woke up in this school, but there is a blank spot in her memory. Who knew that she would need to keep her ID with her, just if she would be transported to another world? Crowley thinks.

“This is quite a dilemma.” he says. “I can’t keep someone unable to use magic at this school. However, as an educator, throwing out penniless youths who have no contact with their guardians would just break my heart. Since I am so very kind!” He smiles. Every time he does that smile, Amelia feels like something is hiding underneath. The headmaster thinks for a moment before he snaps his fingers. “I know! There is a building on campus that is currently not being used. In the past, it was used as a dormitory, so with a little cleaning, it should be livable. I will allow you to stay there for the time being! In the meantime, I will search for a way to send you back home.” He smiles brightly at the group. “Ahh, how kind I am! Aren’t I such an exemplary educator?” he asks, clearly not looking for an answer as he continues on. “We better be on our way. I will show you to the dormitory. It may be old, but there is a certain charm to it.”

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	4. Various Things in the Room!/Exceptional Trial!/Warm-hearted Principal!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group is taken to their new home, the Ramshackle dorm. There, they meet with Grim again and some unexpected guests...

When he said that this dorm needed some cleaning, it was a big understatement. The abandoned dormitory was a mess; the yard leading to the dorm was unkempt, trees were filled with cobwebs, and the dorm itself looked withered for quite some time. It was actually quite creepy to look at.

“This place is…” Stell trails off, not sure how to describe this place without insulting the headmaster.

“It has too much charm.” Ambrosia says bluntly. Thankfully, he doesn’t notice.

“It is, is it not? Well then, come inside.” He leads them up the pavement to the dorm. They follow him to the door and wait as he unlocks the door. Soon after, he opens it and makes a creaking sound. He leads them into a lounge-like area. If the outside was bad, the inside was somehow worse; furniture everywhere, paintings all over the floor or crooked, paint peeling off the walls, and dusty. “In here, you can at least shield yourself from the rain and wind. I’m going to continue investigating some things, so make yourself at home. Don’t go wandering around the school! Farewell.” With that, he leaves them in this dark, dusty dorm.

“You know, if you squint, the dust looks like snow.” Dolphina says, trying to lift up the mood. It didn’t really work; this is a bad situation that they are in. No way home, no idea why they are here, and now they are staying in a poorly conditioned dormitory. But it really doesn’t matter now; they’re here, and they have to make the best of it.

“In order to sit down or...anything, let’s clean this place up first.” Stell suggests. Everyone looks around the disheveled space.

“Can’t really do anything without some lights.” Dove says. “Where are the lights?”

“Hold on.” Amelia finds some candles on the fireplace. She turns back to the group. “We just need to light them up. Let’s see if we have any matches to light these candles.” Immediately, they all look for something to light the candles. After a few minutes, they find some matches. Amelia lights up the candles, bathing the room in light.

“Progress.” Stell says. “Now, we just need to cleaning supplies to fix this place up.” Before they do, they hear some pitter-patter outside. They all go to the window, seeing that it has started raining all of a sudden.

“It’s raining?” Alex questions. “There weren’t any clouds outside before.”

“This place is so strange…” Yasmina says. What else could go wrong-

“GAH! It’s really coming down!” a shrill voice says behind them. The girls all scream and turn around, Dolphina and Dove jumping in Alex’s arms (who holds them up without a problem). Although their shock immediately dwindles when they see Grim, laughing at them.

“You again?!” Stell yells.

“You’ve got this stupid look on your faces, like a spider being attacked with a water gun!” he says, laughing. All of the girls are super annoyed.

“I’ll show you, you little-” Amelia starts but is stopped from lunging at him by Ambrosia and Yasmina.

“He can make fire, remember?” Yasmina says. “I don’t want him to burn down this place, even if it is a dump.” Stell narrows her eyes at the creature.

“How did you get here?” she asks. Grim stops laughing and smirk at them.

“For the Great me, to sneak back into the academy was easy as pie! They’re super wrong if they think I’ll give up getting into the academy just by throwing me out!”

“Why do you want to get into the academy so badly?” she asks.

“It’s a simple story! I’m a genius who is destined to be a great magician! I’ve been waiting for the ebony carriage to come to pick me up. But...but…” he trails off, looking a little sad. For a moment, she felt bad for the creature. He’s clearly passionate about wanting to be here, but he was impatient and kept getting himself in danger. Grim shakes it off as he continues. “Hmph! The Dark Mirror just doesn’t have an eye for this! That’s why I came here myself. Those humans don’t understand that not letting me in is a loss for them.” Suddenly, a drop of water hits his head. He jumps out of the way, shrieking. “Nyah! Cold! The roof’s leaking!” Sure enough, she looks up and sees the roof leaking in the rain.

“As if our luck can only get better.” Ambrosia says sarcastically. Water drips onto Grim’s head again, making him jump back.

“The water’s coming down again!” he yowls, trying to protect his head. “My adorable ear fire is gonna go out at this rate!”

“We should go to find some buckets.” Alex suggests, putting down Dove and Dolphina.

“We can just repair this kinda leak with magic, you know.” Grim says before grinning. “...Wait. You can’t use magic. Pfft! Useless humans!”

“Annoying…” Amelia says under her breath.

“Then help us fix the leaks.” Dove suggests.

“Huh? Help? No way! I’m just a monster taking shelter from the rain for a bit.” he says. “You better get a can of tuna before I do any work.” The raindrops keep coming down.

“The leaks are getting worse…” Stell observes before turning to the others. “I’m going to see if there are any buckets we can use to trap the raindrops. Does anyone want to come with me?” she asks.

“I’ll go. Just to get away from that thing.” Amelia says, narrowing her eyes at Grim.

“I’m going too.” Dolphina says, following the three.

“While you guys find buckets, we’ll clean up a little bit out here.” Dove says. Stell nods, and the three girls walk in the hallway. It was also dirty and messy, like the lounge room.

“There has to be something in one of these rooms…” Stell says. As they walk, they hear some creaking sounds, and they stop.

“What was that?” Dolphina asks. Amelia rolls her eyes.

“It’s an old dorm. It’s probably settling in.” she says, continuing forward. “If we keep jumping at everything, we’ll never…” All three stop when three figures suddenly appear in front of them. They were pale and white, looking like white sheets, with blue eyes, black capes, and top hats. They are floating in front of them, each with a different body type and face shape. Dolphina yelps and grabs onto both of the girls.

“Hihihihihi….We haven’t had guests in so long!” the skeletal one says.

“I’ve been itching for some action!” the plump one says. All three curl up together, staring at the ghosts in fear.

“Gh-gh-gh-gya!” Dolphina yelps, holding onto the other two. Amelia pushes herself in front of the other two, protecting the other two even if she is also scared. Magicians, talking mirrors, and now ghosts?! They hear rushing footsteps and the others soon join them.

“What are you freaking out ab-GYA!” Grim starts before screaming after seeing the ghosts. The others scream as well.

“G-g-g-g-g-g-ghosts!” Dove screams.

“The people living here got scared of us and left.” the smaller one says.

“We’ve been looking for more ghost pals. How about you guys?” the plump one says. All of the girls huddle together, even Grim huddles with them.

“How do we even deal with ghosts?” Alex asks. No one answers. Grim shakes himself out of his stupor.

“The great magician Grim isn’t scared of ghosts!” He bursts out his blue flames. However, being closer to him, Stell notices that he is closing his eyes. It explains how he is missing the ghosts.

“Where are you looking?” one ghost taunts.

“We’re here! Here! Hihihihi!” the other ghost taunts.

“Shit! Stop disappearing!” Grim yells, getting frustrated. The girls move out of the way as the flames come dangerously close to them.

“Do you always close your eyes when you make the fire appear?” Ambrosia asks, clearly taunting him as well.

“Shut up!” he yells, frustrated. “Don’t order me around!” He needs to calm down and focus before he brings the entire building down on them.

“If you could drive the ghosts out of the way, maybe you could win over the headmaster.” Stell says to Grim. He turns to her, confused.

“What…?” He shakes his head. “I-I’m a genius, you know. I can finish these guys by myself…” He jumps when the ghosts appear again. Amelia leans over to Stell.

“What are you doing?” she asks in a hushed tone.

“Saving us all.” she answers before turning back to Grim. “I’ve prepared a bargain for your help.” she says to him. After a moment, he lets out a frustrated huff.

“Oi, you! Tell me where the ghosts are!” he says. Finally, they were getting somewhere.

“Leave it to us.” she says. She turns to the group. “If we work together, we can get these ghosts out of here.” The others think for a moment before nodding. Dove then points out.

“Grim, on your left!” she yells. Grim shoots a burst of blue flame, and it hits one of the ghosts.

“Hot! Hot! Hot!” it yells before disappearing. Grim looks pleased.

“It hit!” He turns to the group. “Alright, we’re gonna drive them away just like that!” The girls back up, looking for the signs of the ghosts. As they appear, they give him directions to where he should shoot his flames. It was so surreal; of all the things that have been going on, working with Grim was the last thing on her mind. Yet, something came over her, probably all of them. As they helped Grim fend off the ghosts, something felt...right. It was as if they were in tune with him, like a rhythmic song. Everyone was on the same page, and Grim followed their instructions. They worked together as a team; they may not have been magic users, but they knew what they were doing.

Hopefully, she’ll know more after they finish with these ghosts.

◢▅◣Ξ◥▅◤Ξ◢▅◣Ξ◥▅◤

Grim yells, shooting a fireball out to the ghosts. All three ghosts are now scared.

“Run!” they yell before disappearing, this time staying gone. The girls are pleased, some of them cheering as Grim looks surprised.

“Huh? We...won?” he says in disbelief.

“That was amazing!” Dolphina exclaims before turning to Grim. “Thank you, Grim.” Grim turns to the group.

“That was sca-” he cuts himself off with a cough. “No, it wasn’t scary at all!” He grins proudly. “This is nothing for the Great Grim!” He turns back in the hallway. “How’s that, you damned ghosts! Giving up already?!” However, he yelps when he hears some noise and hides behind Alex, who yelps. They’re all stiff, ready to meet more surprises. Fortunately, it’s not any ghosts; it’s headmaster Crowley, who was carrying some bags.

“Good evening!” he says cheerfully. “The ever so kind me brought you dinner.” He stops when he notices Grim. “You’re the monster that ran amuck during the entrance ceremony!” He frowns. “I threw him out of the school. Why is he here?” Before any of them can answer, Grim comes face to face with the headmaster.

“Hmph! I exterminated the ghosts here! Be grateful!” he says. The headmaster blinks before looking past him and to the group of girls.

“Hm? What does he mean by that?” All of them look at each other before looking back at the headmaster.

“Well…” Stell starts, but Dolphina is faster.

“So, these three ghosts came out while Stell, Amelia, and I were looking for buckets for the rain. Before that, Grim came in from the rain. But then Grim started shooting fire at the ghosts, but he kept missing. So, Stell promised him some tuna if he took out the ghosts, and then we all helped him find the ghosts to shoot at, and he did, and they’re gone now!” she explains, missing the wide-eye looks from the others. She knows that sometimes she talks a bit fast, but she also likes telling what happens. She has a habit of being excited, even if the situation doesn’t call for it sometimes. The headmaster nods, putting the food down to the side.

“Now that you mention it, some prankster ghosts were living here, so students keep away from this dormitory...and THAT’S why it’s now empty. I’d forgotten that. However, hmm…” He looks to them, to Grim, then back. “For you to work together and drive out the ghosts…”

“Now hold on.” Grim interrupts. “They only watched, see? And I did it only because I wanted some tuna...wait.” He looks back at them. “Hey! I haven’t gotten my tuna yet!” The headmaster looks between them all again.  _ He’s looking very intently at us, _ she thought.  _ What could he possibly be thinking? _

“All of you.” Crowley says, getting their attention. “Would you please show me how you drove away the ghosts?”

“What?” the girls exclaim at the same time. It wasn’t fun the first time they did this, but now he wants them to do it again? Grim is especially not happy.

“But we’ve driven away all the ghosts! My tuna!” he whines.

“I’ll take the role of the ghost.” Crowley explains. “If you win against me, I shall give you your tuna. I am kind, after all.” He pulls out a small vial. “Transformation medicine!’ He opens the cap and drinks the entire thing. There is a flash of white before it disappears. Instead of the human headmaster, he’s now a ghost. The only distinguishable thing about him that separates him from the other ghosts is his signature raven mask. Grim frowns.

“Eeh. I don’t want to.” he whines. “It’s too bothersome to work with them again…”

“You want your tuna, right?’ Yasmina says, taunting his whining. He narrows his eyes before giving in.

“This is the last time, okay? This time, absolutely,  _ absolutely  _ give me my tuna cans, okay?!” he says, pointing at them. They all nod, some not really meaning it. He turns back to the headmaster.

“Now, attack me, who turned into a ghost.” The headmaster says, slowly disappearing. “Come attack me without hesitation. I won’t get angry. I am kind, after all.” As they get ready, Dolphina turns to Dove.

“Are we really doing this again?” she asks the other girl. She just shrugs.

“Hopefully, this experiment will lead to something.” Dove answers. This is an experiment? They both turn back. Once again, like the first time, it’s as if they are in sync with Grim in finding the ghost. Left, right, left, right. Even as the headmaster moved quicker and had more ghosts appear, they didn’t falter. She couldn’t explain it, even if she tried. She knows that she never had any ability like this before, and her senses were...odd, like she could tell what would happen and just needed to time it right. Maybe it was because they were in this strange new world that something awoken in them?

Whatever the reason, she was having a blast!

By the time they were done, everyone seemed to be out of breath and tired. Headmaster Crowley has turned back in his original form while everyone sits on the floor, tired. Especially Grim.

“How’s... how’s that?” he asks, out of breath. The headmaster seems to be intrigued.

“There is no way for a monster to obey a human, let alone seven…” He tilts his head in thought. “Hmm...actually, I’ve had my educator’s intuition tingling ever since the uproar during the entrance ceremony…” He looks at the group. “Stell, Amelia, Dolphina, Yasmina, Alex, Dove, Ambrosia. You all have the makings of a trainer or beastmasters.” They all look at him, confused. Trainer? Beastmaster? Stell had the occasional pet, but nothing came close to what she was doing. As the headmaster trails off, grumbling to himself, she looks at everyone. It’s really true; to survive in this world, they needed magic. None of them have it, but they can help each other out in some way. Slowly, Stell gets up from her seat and walks up to the headmaster.

“Headmaster. Can you let Grim live in this house with us?” she asks him. Immediately, there is some reaction from the others.

“What?!” Amelia and Yasmina both questioned angrily, showing how much they weren’t fans of this. Dolphina and Dove had small smiles since they felt bad for the creature in the first place. Alex looked confused but didn’t have any complaints. Ambrosia...had no expression on her face, so she has no idea how she feels. Grim looks shocked and confused. The headmaster tilts his head.

“What did you say? Let a  _ monster _ live here?” he questions.

“Please?” she begs. Crowley takes a moment before sighing in defeat.

“There’s no helping it. Alright.” Grim immediately smiles.

“For real?!” he asks, almost in disbelief.

“However,” Crowley starts. “There’s no way I can let someone who wasn’t chosen by the Dark Mirror, let alone a monster, to enroll in the school. I cannot let you just freeload until you can go back to your own worlds.” The mood suddenly goes down, especially to Grim, who frowns.

“Well...talk about short-lived joy.” he says, flattening his ears to his head. The headmaster holds his hand up.

“Well, listen to me until I finish talking.” he says, putting his hand down after getting their attention again. “Concerning the fact that your souls were called here, the school has to take responsibility as the owners of the Dark Mirror. For the time being, you’ll be permitted to stay in this dormitory for free. But other necessities you will have to provide for yourselves. Seeing that you have nothing to your names…” He thinks before chuckling. “...Here is my proposal.” The way he says that and leans closer to them is a little bit...sinister? They all slightly take a step back. He just smiles. “No need to fret. I’m only going to make you do odd jobs like maintenance with the school.” he explains, which relaxes them a little. Maintenance? Does that mean they have to be…

“Like handymen?” Ambrosia asks bluntly.

“Precisely.” he answers. “If you do that, I will give you special permission to stay inside the school. I will also permit you to use the library to gather information on ways to go back to your world and study in this world. I am kind, after all. However, you can only use it after you are done working.” Honestly, it seemed like an even trade. They don’t have to worry about paying to stay, and they get to stay in school, which has become interesting to her. She looks back to the others, who all seem to get it as well.

Except for Grim.

“I don’t wanna!” he whines. “I want to wear that cool uniform and become a student.”

“If you’re unsatisfied, then it’s alright. We only have to throw you out again.” the headmaster explains. Grim is taken aback before groaning in defeat.

“Go-got it. I only have to do odd jobs.” he says, looking down. The rest of the girls nod their heads.

“Understood.” Stell answers.

“Very well. Then, starting tomorrow, work hard as Night Raven College’s handymen!” he says. However, instead of nods, they all hear rumbling. Stell blushes. That was her stomach. With everything happening all night, they forgot to eat anything. While she’s embarrassed and everyone else, the headmaster just smiles. “Well, after you all get something to fill your bellies.”

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	5. School Time Refresher!/Encounter A Person!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a rude awakening, the girls and Grim begin their first day as handymen. They go to Main Street, where they learn about where they are from someone new...

Normally, Alex would wake up early in the mornings. She loved it; seeing the sunrise, doing some exercises, and just getting ready for the day. But it’s not like normal mornings; instead, she was tired and didn’t want to wake up even as the sun started shining through the window. After they all ate last night, no one wanted to be alone (because of the ghosts), so they found all of the mattresses and huddled them together in the lounge to sleep. She didn’t realize how tired she was until she hit the mattress and first closed her eyes. Now, even as the morning comes, none of them are getting up any time soon. As she was sleeping, she could hear some noise…

“Hihihihi...don’t you guys have to clean up the academy now?” She doesn’t know who said that, but she wasn’t going to get up.

“Nya...five more minutes…” she heard Grim (she could tell from the voice) say, still groggy with sleep. But the voices continue.

“Laze about too long, and you’ll never wake up again.”

“Just like us! Hihihihi!”

Suddenly, the mattress moves out from under her, making her flip and fall onto the hardwood floor. Apparently, this happens to everyone, and all of them are jolted awake. They all get up, groggy from being woken up in such a rude way.

“Ow!” Dove says, rubbing her back. “That hurt…”

“Is anyone hurt?” Stell asks although she rubs her head.

“Peachy.” Yasmina says sarcastically. They’re all awake now. They hear laughter, and they turn, seeing the three ghosts laughing at them.

“Those ghosts again!” Grim yells, mad that he was woken up rudely from his sleep.

“Are you all going to be living here?” the skeletal ghost asks, grinning. “You guys are so prank-worthy! Kekeke!” With that, all three of them disappear.

“Shit!’ Grim cursed. “We’ll get rid of you eventually!”

“They’re already gone.” Amelia says. “We just have to live with this now...as much as we don’t want to.” She gives a pointed look to Grim. They all hear the front door open, and in comes headmaster Crowley. He seems to also have a suitcase with him.

“Good morning, everyone!” he greets cheerfully.

“Good morning.” they all respond, some more cheery and some tired.

“Did you sleep well?” he asks them. Grim immediately starts complaining.

“I was all sprawled out, then I fell out the bottom! Just how ramshackle did you let this place get? Then, we got woken up by the ghosts! It’s the worst!” he complains, getting some eye rolls from Amelia and Yasmina. Alex decides to chip in since everyone had a rude awakening.

“I slept like a log!” she responds, grinning. It wasn’t a lie either; soft bedding or hard floor, she doesn’t care as long as she gets her sleep. The headmaster smiles.

“Even though you were hurled here from another world, you’re still cheeky. Wonderful!” he praises before continuing on. “Well then, now that’s out of the way, I want to talk about your job today.” As he continues, the suitcase is put down, and it opens by itself. They all look inside, seeing folded up clothes inside. “Today’s work is to clean the academy...but the campus is quite large. It will be impossible to finish cleaning the whole place without magic. That’s why, for today, I’d like you to clean Main Street from the main gate to the library. Do you understand?” All the girls nod. “Please watch Grim closely, so he doesn’t cause an uproar like he did yesterday.” he asks.

“I’m not that confident we can…” Dove admits, making Grim huff in annoyance.

“I’m relying on all of you.” He points to the suitcase. “Here are your uniforms. Don’t worry; the magic in them will fit you all perfectly.”  _ Cool!  _ “I will give your permission to eat lunch at the school cafeteria. Well then, work hard today!” With that, he turns and leaves the dorm. All the girls pick up their new uniforms; it was a grey jumpsuit with a raven logo. Probably the school sigil. As the girls get their uniforms ready, Grim doesn’t look happy.

“Tch...No way I’m doing any cleaning.” he says, annoyed.

“You don’t like to do much of anything besides showing off.” Ambrosia says. Grim ignores her.

“I want to attend magic classes and do lots of cool magic! Like…” He flies around, making boom noises as if it’s magic.

“We can study in the library after we finish cleaning, Grim.” Stell says. He grumbles as he leaves the room for them to change.

Today is a new day. Nothing can be worse than yesterday.

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“Whoa! Amazing!” Grim says, amazed. After they finished getting dressed, all of them left the dorm and walked to the academy’s main gate. Now, in the daytime, they can see everything. A long paved path leads to the front gate and the front building of the academy. Behind it was the main academy, standing tall in the distance. Along the path were large statues of various people. Stell was also amazed at the sight; she had no idea how large a scale this academy really was. It explains why there were so many buildings and a lot of students from the ceremony. The rest of the girls are amazed as well. Everyone had on their handymen grey jumpsuits with the school’s sigil on the sleeves. Some of them changed up their looks for the job ahead; Stell had her hair tied in two low ponytails, Amelia had her braided hair up in a ponytail, Ambrosia had her hair up in a bun, and Dolphina put her hair in two long braids.

“It’s so big!” Dove observes, looking toward the building. “It must be a lot bigger than what we see now.”

“We probably should’ve asked for a map of the academy.” Yasmina points out.

“Hopefully, they’ll have one inside somewhere.” Stell says before picking up a broom. “First, we do have a job to do.”

“What are we supposed to do?” Ambrosia questions. “The headmaster didn’t exactly give us any direction other than clean from here to the library.” Stell hums in thought, looking around. It didn’t seem to be really messy, only a few leaves around.

“How about this?” she suggests. “Half of us focus on sweeping the grounds and picking up the leaves, while the other half clean the statues?”

“So, who’s going to be doing what?’ Yasmina asks, slightly irritated. Stell probably thinks it’s because this has nothing to do with the cleaning; since she brought it up last night, it’s been a weird vibe between them because Stell seems to be making the decisions. Well, she is, but no one comes up to suggest anything. Everything else seems fine until this kind of thing happens. However, before she could continue, she noticed Dove looking around.

“Where’s Grim?” the girl asks. They find him looking at the statues. They all walk over to him.

“Grim, you are supposed to be helping too.” Amelia says, annoyed at him.

“I didn’t get a good look yesterday, but what’s with these statues?” Grim asks.

“You’re from this world. Don’t you know?” Alex asks, confused.

“I’ve never been to the academy, so I don’t know the history of this place!” he says. Now that they were here, they did get a better look at all the statues. They were all different and kind of scary looking. “This granny,” Grim says, pointing to one statue. “Looks especially snobby.” The statue is a lady wearing a big dress, roses surrounding her, and has a crown on her head.

“You don’t know about the Queen of Hearts?” someone says. They all turn to see a boy who is smirking at them. He has spiky terracotta hair, cherry red eyes and a red heart tattoo on his left eye. Where did he even come from?

“Queen of Hearts? Is she important?” Grim asks. The boy nods.

“In the past, she was the queen who lived inside the Rose Labyrinth. She valued the rules and discipline above all, strict in all things from the march of the Card Soldiers to the color of the rose bushes. It was a land of madness where all submit to her rule.” he explains.

“Why?” Dove asks, interested in the story.

“Why, you ask? Because or else it was off with your head!” he answers, grinning in her face.

“How dreadful.” she responds.

“Isn’t it cool? I like it.” he asks excitedly. “Nobody would listen to a queen who’s just nice all the time, right?” Dove frowns, crossing her arms.

“There is nothing wrong with a queen who cares about her people.” Then she tilts her head like she just realized something. “Who are you?” she asks.

“I’m Ace.” he announces. “A first-year student part of the Heartslabyul dorm starting today. Nice to meet cha!” Grim leaps up on Dove’s shoulder, startling her a bit.

“I am the great Grim! I’m a genius who’ll become a great magician!” he announces himself. Then he just points to the others. “And these dull ones are my henchmen.” Stell frowns before pulling him back, making him yowl in shock.

“We’re not henchmen.” she says. Dove nods, clearing her throat.

“I’m Dove.” She turns to the others, pointing to each girl as she says their names. “This is Stell, Amelia, Yasmina, Dolphina, Alex, and Ambrosia.”

“Unusual names.” he says.  _ Says the guy who’s named Ace, _ Stell thinks.

“So, you know everything about these statues then, hmm?” Dolphina asks. Although they were all supposed to be cleaning, it seems like as soon as this boy came in, they were all curious for a history lesson. He nods. Amelia goes over to one of the statues. It was a very lean lion with a scar over his left eye, standing on a rock with bones underneath.

“Okay. What’s the deal with the lion?” she asks, pointing at the statue with her thumb.

“This is the King of Beasts who ruled over the savannah.” Ace explains. “However, he was not born to be king, but he took the throne through effort and elaborate planning. After becoming king, he even allowed the loathed hyenas to live in his kingdom without discrimination.”

“Ohh~ People who don’t get swayed by social status? Nice!” Grim says. However, Stell notices the look of doubt from the other girl. Dolphina skips over to another statue, this one featuring a woman with tentacles as her lower body and holding some sort of scroll.

“Who is this? She asks.

“The Witch of the Sea, who lives in a cavern in the deep. Her purpose was to help all unfortunate merfolk. If you pay the price, she will help you find any solution to your worries, from deep desires to changing oneself to love troubles! If it was within her power, there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do. They say her prices were pretty high, though. That’s what it costs for “anything.”” Dolphina nods.

“That makes sense.” she says, although Stell secretly disagrees. Yasmina walks over to one statue. It’s a lanky man, wearing a long robe and large hat. He has a cobra-shaped cane.

“Who’s the guy with the hat?” she asks.

“The Sorcerer of the Sand. He was a cunning vizier to a foolish sultan and saw through a fake prince that was actually a street rat trying to deceive the princess! Then he got a magic lamp and became the most powerful sorcerer of all! With that power, they say he became sultan.” While explaining, she could’ve sworn that she saw the other girl shift uncomfortably before she speaks.

“So what? He looks like a creep.” she quips, moving away from the statue. Ambrosia steps up to another statue. This one is of a woman elegantly dressed with a crown on her head and holding an apple.

“How elegant.” she says, observing the statue.

“She is the Beautiful Queen! Every day, she would check the mirror to see who the fairest of them all is. If she is even in second place, no one was spared! It’s also said that she was an expert at making poisons.”

“Isn’t that a little excessive?” she asks.

“Really?” he questions her. “Isn’t it cool to have a fixation you won’t ever yield?”

“It’s very single-minded.” she simply says, apparently not affected by any of this information. Alex goes up to another statue, curious. It’s one of a tall man with a long robe on, fire adorning his head, and a cheesy grin.

“Wow! Who’s this guy?” she asks.

“Lord of the Underworld! They said he ruled over a land, swarming with evil spirits by himself, so no doubt he was extremely skilled. Even though he’s got a scary face, he did that detestable job without ever taking a vacation. Cerberus, Hydra, and all of the Titans followed his orders and fought for him.”

“Cool! He must be super influential then.” she says, her eyes lighting up. Stell thinks they all had enough of the history lesson, but before she could tell everyone else, her eyes were drawn to the last statue. It’s a woman, standing tall and proud while adorned in a dark cloak, holding a staff and has large horns on her head. There was something...alluring and scary to her...She didn’t even notice when Ace walks up to her until he speaks, making her jump a little.

“That is the Witch of Thorn from the Magic Mountains. Noble and elegant, even within the seven, she is top class in magic and curses! She can summon lightning and storms, cover an entire country in thorns…” She looks at him, puzzled. Why does that sound familiar? “...Anyways, her magic is on a whole other level. They said she could also transform into an enormous dragon.” Grim seemed pretty excited about that.

“Ooh~ A dragon!” he exclaims, smiling. “The admiration of every monster!” Ace shrugs.

“They’re so cool, right?” He then grins, almost maliciously. “...Unlike a certain raccoon.”

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	6. Cheeky Mates!/A Hundred Broken Windows!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It turns out their new "friend" isn't as friendly as they thought and more trouble arises.

Everyone turns to Ace, slightly off-put by his comment. Grim is especially offended.

“What?!” he yowls. After a few seconds, Ace just starts laughing. Everyone has confusion written all over their faces...except for Ambrosia’s, keeping her face stoic. It wasn’t that she was confused, but she’s just not as expressive as the others.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHA! I can’t hold it in anymore!” Ace laughs, tears welling up in his eyes. He wipes them off before looking back at the group. “You guys are the ones who caused a riot during the entrance ceremony, right? You get called in front of the mirror, but got rejected because you couldn’t use magic and the monster barged in even though he didn’t get invited! Man, it took everything I had to not lose it at the ceremony!” Of course, he was there last night. This whole situation was sketchy the moment he came out of nowhere and just gave them information. Grim is fuming, his ears somehow blazing more fire. Simultaneously, the rest of the girl’s faces are red from embarrassment (and anger for Amelia and Yasmina).

“That’s so rude…” Dove says, looking down to cover her embarrassment. Despite her saying that he keeps going.

“In the end, none of you could get into the school and now work as handymen? Haha! Lame.” he continues taunting them. “Plus, to not even know who the “Great Seven” are...how ignorant are you? I recommend you to start over from kindergarten before coming to Night Raven College.” Ambrosia shakes her head; if this keeps up, then there’s going to be trouble. “I called you out to tease you a bit, but you guys exceeded my expectations. Well, I have classes, unlike you guys, so bye!” He turns to leave, waving them off. “Have fun cleaning!~” Though Ambrosia is just fine to let him walk away and never see him again; apparently this ruffles Grim the wrong way.

“That guy….He crossed the line!” Grim yowls, the flames on his ears flaring.

Trouble.

“Grim, no-” Even though Stell yells out, Grim still shoots a fireball at the student. Ace notices and jumps away just before it hits him.

“What the hell are you doing?” he screams at the cat.

“That’s for making fun of me!” Grim answered. “I’ll make your head explode, you firehead!” Firehead? Grim might be a danger in a physical fight, but fails when it comes to wordplay.

“Firehead? Is that the best you got?” Ace replies, smirking. “You got guts to pick a fight with me. I’ll turn you into a frizzy toy poodle!” Grim shoots his fire again, and Ace dodges. “That’s dangerous. Take this!” He takes out a wand, just like the students from last night, and waves it. When Grim shoots out another fireball, the wand lights up, and the wind blows from it, knocking the flames to one side of the street.

“He can control the wind?” Dolphina questions, wide-eyed.

“Magic is everywhere! THAT is where you draw the line?” Yasmina says, annoyed at the girl.

“Stop bickering! We need to get this under control.” Stell says to them both. But, as Ambrosia looks around, there might be a bigger problem. With this fighting, it has brought in some other students.

“Is there a fight going on?” one of them asks.

“Nice! Get ’em!” another one says. Great; now there are spectators. Amelia turns to the group of spectators.

“Stop stirring them up!” she yells, but it falls to deaf ears. The girls watch helplessly as Grim and Ace throw magic at each other.

“You think that flimsy flame would hit me?” Ace taunt, using more wind to throw off the flames.

“What did you say?!” Grim yells, throwing more fire. As they continue to fight, the flames knock off to hit the ground around them, scorching some of the pavement and even the grass.  _ That’s going to be a pain to clean up,  _ she thinks.

“If they keep fighting like this, it’s going to be the entrance ceremony all over again.” Ambrosia observes calmly. Alex turns and stares at her.

“How can you be so calm while all of this is happening?” she asks. Ambrosia stares blankly back as if the question was ridiculous...because it is. If they were calm in the first place, none of this would be happening. While the others were scrambling to figure something out, Ambrosia stands back to watch the fight. This wind from the other student and the fire from Grim. Clearly, if they had another element in this fight...wait, what? Why did she think that? She definitely knows that she doesn’t know any magic or how it works with everything going on. Yet, for that split moment, it was like she knew what was going on, how to help...but why? Whatever the case may be, she hopes it’s not just her noticing this. She sees that the girls have split into two groups of three. If she wasn’t in her own headspace, then maybe she would know what they were doing.

“On three..” Stell orders. She may not know exactly what is about to happen, but it wasn’t going to be good. “One…”

Ace’s wand lights up.

“Two…”

Grim is about to shoot another fireball.

“Three!” she shouts, and the separate groups jump at the two fighting.

Everything happened all at once. Stell, Amelia, and Yasmina grab Grim just as he shoots fire, and Alex, Dove, and Dolphina take down Ace as he lets another wind gust. This pushes the fire to one of the statues, the heart queen lady, and burns it charcoal black. Every single person on the grounds, including her group, is mortified at the turn of events.  _ No matter what happens, trouble always finds us. _

“Shit!” Ace curses. “You burned the Queen of Hearts’ statue!”

“ _ You  _ changed the direction of my flames instead of getting burned!” Grim yells back, trying to get out of the girl’s grip. Ace tries to do the same, failing under the three girl’s weight.

“You think there’s anyone who would  _ want  _ to get burned?!” he yells back.

“Stop fighting!” Dove yells.  _ What a mess,  _ Ambrosia thinks, shaking her head slightly. It’s only a matter of time before-

“Enough! Just what is going on here?!”

Everyone freezes, bystanders running away, before looking to see headmaster Crowley right there, looking pretty upset. Well, that didn’t take long.

“It’s the headmaster…” Ace whispers, scared out of his mind. While everyone is distracted, Grim gets out of the girl’s grip and tries running away. Like last time, the headmaster just pulls out that whip again and whips Grim, making him fall down.

“AH!” he yowls, rubbing his head to where it hit him. “That’s two days in a row…”

“It’s the whip of love! It’s one-hundred years too fast for you to run from me!” he says before turning to the group. Everyone has gotten up and stands in front of him. He sighs before continuing. “I thought I told you earlier to not cause an uproar? Furthermore, to burn a Great Seven statue! You want to be expelled that badly?” he asks the group.

“Wait! Not that!” Ace exclaims.

“I thought I told you to supervise Grim.” All the girls hang their head down, embarrassed, except for Ambrosia.

“We could only do so much as non-magical people, surrounded by magic users.” she says bluntly.

“Not that you tried to help.” Yasmina whispers. She would be offended, but it’s the truth. Crowley hums before turning to Ace.

“My goodness...” he mumbles, shaking his head before turning to look at Ace. “You, what’s your year and name?” he asks.

“Ace Trappola..a first year.” he answers, huffing.

“Well then...As punishment, you all are going to clean one-hundred windows!” All of them are shocked.

“What!?” Grim yowls before pointing to Ace. “He’s the one who caused the problem! He made fun of us!”

“I didn’t burn the statue!” Ace yells back. They are about to fight again before Crowley breaks it up.

“Enough!” he commands, making everyone freeze and listen. “After school, gather in the school cafeteria. Understood?” Everyone nods, though no one is happy about it.

It could only get worse from here.

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Stell stands by one of the windows, looking outside. They were all waiting in the empty cafeteria. It was pretty spacious, wooden benches, and yellow chandeliers surrounding the place. They were all tired from cleaning the academy earlier, so now they were just resting. All they needed to do is clean the windows once this Ace kid shows up. Grim groans.

“I’m already beat from cleaning all day, but now we have to clean one hundred windows…” he complains, lying on his stomach on one of the tables. Yasmina pokes him on the head.

“If you didn’t fight that Ace guy, we would be back in the dorm by now.” she reminds him.

“Speaking of which, where is he?” Dove asks. “It’s been thirty minutes since classes ended.”

“Maybe he’s just running late.” Dolphina suggests.

“I think he bailed on us.” Yasmina says.

“Do you think he will do that?” Alex asks. “That would be irresponsible.”

“Suddenly, you know so much about him to judge his character?” Amelia snarkily says. Stell looks back at the group.

“We’ll wait for him. This is important to all of us.” She reminds them. They end the conversation there and continue to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

By the time it hit the hour mark, everyone knew exactly what was going on.

“That brat bailed on us!” Yasmina exclaimed, pissed off that they waited for so long. It really crossed her mind, but she did wish that he would give them the benefit of the doubt.

“I’m not gonna let him get away with putting all the punishment on us!” Grim exclaims, getting up. “Let’s go! We’ll catch Ace and make him clean the windows!” Without even waiting for them, he runs off. The rest scramble up to run after him.

“Do we even know where to find him?” Stell asks the group runs after Grim.

“Do you want to stop and ask?” Amelia asks sarcastically. Stell frowns but gets the point. They run down the corridor. They barge into a room.

“C’MON! Where are you, Ace!? You’ll pay for hiding from us!” Grim yells. However, the classroom is empty.

“Well, no one’s here.” Alex says, looking around. It was a pretty big classroom, desks, and chairs aligned on the sides while a teacher’s desk sat in front of a large blackboard. There were also a lot of paintings on the wall.

“No. I am here.” A male voice says. They look around, but they don’t see anyone. However, Stell notices one of the portraits staring at them...and blinking? She lets out a startled yelp, alerting the others.

“Stell, what’s wrong?” Dove asks worriedly.

“I think that painting just spoke.” She answers, pointing up at the said portrait. They look up at it, but nothing happens. Grim looks at her, smirking.

“I think you’re more tired than you realized.” Grim says. Stell frowns.

“But he-” She pauses. Maybe she did see nothing.

“Stell. Listen to me.” She looks at Amelia. “Paintings can’t talk.”

“I beg your pardon?” That same voice says. This time, they all notice and lookup. Indeed, the painting was talking to them. Everyone stared wide eyes and gaping mouths. “What now? It’s not uncommon for paintings to talk at this school. The lady on that wall, the gentleman on this wall-all of us speak. Portraits have mouths, and so they can talk. Isn’t that normal?”

“Normally, pictures don’t talk.” Ambrosia states.

“Your ‘normal’ is different from my ‘normal.’ We must respect one another’s individuality, don’t you agree?” the portrait responds.

“Are you a ghost?” Alex asks.

“Rather than restlessly floating in the air, I’ve been sitting on this wall perfectly still for more than fifty years,” he responds. “Now, are you looking for someone?”

“We’re looking for this guy named Ace,” Grim says. “He’s got a heart on his face and a big sweep of hair on his head.” The portrait contemplates for a moment before answering.

“Ah, I know who you are talking about. He’s one of the new students that came in today. Last I saw of him, he was going back to his dorm.”

“What?! He really was trying to bail on us!” Grim screeched, pissed.

“Do you know where he went?” Stell asks the portrait.

“The doors to the dorms are in the back of the east school building.” he responds.

“Thank you,” Stell says before turning to the group. “Let’s go find him.”

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	7. Escaping Punishment!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As if skipping out on chores was enough...

The day just got more and more interesting. For Dove, it would be boring if nothing was happening at her stay here. Sure, she wouldn’t want to spend it cleaning the academy or chasing down a student bailing on his duties, but it was a start. They run down the hall until they reach a large room. It was a dome-like room with arches leading to other parts of the building. Strangely, there were certain arches that led to a large mirror, each frame decorated differently. Each arch had a sigil on it, probably indicating the different dorms of the academy. But why would the dorms need large mirrors for themselves?

“HEY, YOU!” She hears Grim yell and, sure enough, they find Ace, who looks like he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. A second later, he runs, and they chase after him.

“Stop running, Ace!” Stell yells, but he doesn’t.

“I really don’t have time to stop!” he yells back, clearly lying. As they chase him in this large hall, Dove spots another student. Where did he come from?

“Hm?” he notices the commotion and gets out of the way as Ace races past him.

“Get out of my way!” Ace yells.

“Wh-Whoa?!” the other boy exclaims as the group tries to catch him.

“Catch him, please!” Dove yells to the new student.

“Magic to capture someone?” he asks. While they try to catch Ace, Dove notices the other student having a slight problem. From what she can, this should be very easy for magical students...right? “I should freeze his legs-no! How about restraining him? Or I could...um…”

“Just try anything!” Grim yells. He almost catches him, but Ace side-steps him.

“Anything?! Anything, anything…” he thinks before pulling out his own want. “Alright! Anything works, so...Come! Something heavy!” He points his wand to where Ace is and, with a flash of light, a large cauldron appears and knocks Ace down. Well, that was...effective.

“The hell was that?!” Ace groans, slowly getting up. “A pot?” Everyone gathers around him as Alex pulls him up. Grim is laughing at him.

“Look at that! Ace got smacked by a giant pot! How lame!” he laughs. The other student walks up to them. Now that the drama has died down, she got a good look at the other student. He had short dark navy hair with peacock green eyes and a black spade tattoo on his right eye.

“I didn’t think I’d get a cauldron,” he says, looking a little worried. “Did I overdo it?”

“Ow, ow, ow…” Ace rubs his head before looking at the group. “Can’t you just quickly clean those hundred windows by yourselves?” he asks.

“The punishment is for all of us.” Stell responds, resting her hands on her waist.

“You have to clean one hundred windows as punishment? What did you guys even do?” the newcomer asks.

“I got into it a bit with that furball, and we  _ might  _ have charred the Queen of Heart’s statue a bit.” he says, trying to play it off like it wasn’t a big deal.

“You damaged one of the statues of the Great Seven?!” the boy yells, shocked. “ _ Obviously,  _ you’d get in trouble! You just got enrolled in this prestigious school...What were you even doing on your first day?” Ace just turns his head away and crosses his arms. Dove turns to the boy.

“I’m sorry we dragged you into all of this.” she apologizes. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Deuce Spade.” he answers. She smiles at him.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Dove Carrolyn.” she introduces herself, taking his hand and shaking it. It may not have been the best time, to be honest, but she did feel bad that they dragged someone else into their own mess.

“As much as we love making new friends,” Yasmina says, butting it. “We need to start cleaning those windows before it gets dark.” The rest of them nod. However, Dove notices Ace looking confused.

“What’s wrong?” she asks him.

“Where’s the furball?” Sure enough, after everyone looks around, no one can find Grim.

“He’s bailing on us too?!” Dolphina exclaims.

“Where did he go?” Stell asks. Almost like an answer to the question, they hear a familiar laugh coming from outside. They all rushed to the nearest window, and there he was! Grim was waving to them from the main street before sticking his tongue out.

“I’m going to turn that furball into a soup!” Amelia exclaims before running out of the room.

“Don’t do that! He’ll probably taste bad!” Alex answers before following her. Soon, everyone follows suit except Dove, who notices that Ace and Deuce are not moving.

“Ace, come on!” she calls out.

“Ugh, fine! You!” He points to Deuce. “You’re partially responsible, so help us catch that furball!”

“Why me?” Deuce asks.

“Because this lot can’t use magic, so they’re useless,” he answers. Dove pouts.

“We’re not useless…” She says silently before shaking her head. She grabs both of their sleeves and drags them. “We don’t have time! Sorry, Deuce!”

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They meet the others outside to the main street. They all try to look for Grim, who seemed to have vanished. They decide to split up to find him, leaving Dove with Ace and Deuce.

“In order for us to cover more ground, we should stick together and-” she starts before Ace interrupts her.

“There he is!” he exclaims. They see Grim near the garden. “Get back here, you jerk!” he calls out.

“In your dreams, static-head!” Grim laughs before he runs off.

“Come on, juice!” Ace yells, chasing after Grim.

“My name is Deuce!” the other yells back, following him. Dove sighs before following them. Why was nothing going, right? She chases after them. The entire time they are chasing Grim, the two students get close to catching him...only to bicker and let the cat escape.

“Stop copying me!” Ace yells at some point.

“You are the one butting in on me!” Deuce responds.

“Stop fighting!” Dove yells. She spots Grim going back inside and drags the other two inside. “This way!” She just hopes they get this done so they can get this over with.

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	8. Careless Tactics!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dove, Deuce and Ace track Grim back to the cafeteria and, even though they catch him, it's not the end of their bad day...

The trio runs back into the cafeteria, where they see Grim jumping around and laughing.

“Damn! He’s darting around everywhere!” Ace exclaims, frustrated.

“Hehehe! Catch me if you can.” Grim taunts before jumping on a chandelier.

“Grim, stop messing around and come down!” Dove pleads, but of course, he doesn’t listen. She turns to the other two. “We have to get him down.”

“We haven’t learned any flying magic yet.” Deuce tries to think. “We need to get up there and catch him...Maybe we could...no.” Meanwhile, Ace and Dove are looking up at the chandelier.

“We need some good ide-uh, whoa, whoa, whoa!” He turns to Deuce, but stops and freaks out. Dove sees that Deuce is pointing his wand at Ace. “Why are you pointing your magical pen at me?!” he exclaims.  _ Those are pens?  _ Now looking at it, they do look like pens with a jewel as a top accessory. Curious…

“I’ll just throw you.” Deuce says simply.

“What?!” The two exclaim.

“There has to be another way to do this.” Dove pleads. There was no actual way he was going to throw him up there..? However, as soon as she thinks this, Deuce’s pen glows, and suddenly Ace is lifted up into the air.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! You’re actually going to throw me!? Stop!” Ace tries pleading, flailing in the air.

“Catch him, ya hear?” Deuce says, aiming Ace to where Grim is. “Aiming…”

“Deuce, this isn’t-” she tries to talk him out of it, but it’s too late.

“Now, GO!” He throws Ace across the ceiling, the other screaming. He is hurled at Grim, who is taken by surprise, and the two knock into each other. However, this also knocks them into the chandelier and knocks all three down. The chandelier drops to the floor, breaking apart on impact. Oh...no.

“The chandelier…” she softly says, too shocked to say anything else. There’s no way that sound would go unnoticed. Ace gets up off the ground, coughing and holding a dizzy-looking Grim. Deuce is shocked.

“Unbelievable.” Ace says, looking at the mess on the ground.

“I-I screwed up! I didn’t think about the landing…” Deuce admits, which only makes Ace curse at him.

“Are you an IDIOT?!” Ace yells at Deuce. “We may have gotten Grim, but if the headmaster finds out we destroyed the chandelier-”

“If I...find out?” The group freezes. No, no, no. Slowly, they turn around to the source of the voice. Yep. Headmaster Crowley, staring back at them, somehow looking more upset than he did earlier.

“H-Headmaster…” Ace stutters, completely frozen. A few moments, the rest of the group runs in, but there is nothing they can do.

“Just. What. Exactly. ARE YOU ALL DOING?!” Crowley questions, raising his voice so much that they all flinch. “You weren’t satisfied with just damaging the statue, so you decided to destroy the chandelier? This is the last straw: All of you are expelled!”

“WHAT!?” Everyone yells in shock.

“Please! Anything but that! I have things I need to do at this school!” Deuce pleads.

“You can blame yourself for behaving like a fool.” Crowley says.

“I will play for all the damages if I have to!” he pleads again, but Crowley shakes his head.

“This is no ordinary chandelier.” the headmaster explains. “This was an enchanted chandelier. It was powered by magic, and its candles were never supposed to burn out for all of eternity! It is a masterpiece made by a legendary master of magical tools. It has been carefully passed down ever since this academy was founded. Considering its historical value, it would be worth no less than one billion madols.” She may not know what a ‘madol’ is, but it’s still a high number and something none of them have. “Can  _ you _ pay for those damages?”

“O-One billion…” Deuce trails off.

“B-But, can’t you just fix it up quickly with your magic, Headmaster?” Ace asks.

“Magic is not all-powerful,” Crowley explains. “More importantly, what we call the heart of any magical tool, the magical crystal, was shattered. No two magical crystals are the same. The chandelier might not be able to light up again.” The two boys hang their heads down.

“No…” Ace whispers, distraught.

“Damn it...What am I going to do?” Deuce questions himself. “How am I going to tell mom..?” Dove felt so bad. Yes, all of this could’ve been avoided a long time ago and if they just followed orders. But unlike her, they wanted to come here and just had the bad luck of meeting them. She looks to the others, who also looked guilty. She couldn’t let this happen, not to her group and certainly not to them.

“What if we found that stone?” she asks abruptly. This takes everyone aback, including the headmaster, but Dove kept going. “Is there a way we can find that specific stone and bring it back to fix the chandelier? Then no one gets expelled because we solved the problem.” She looks pleading at the headmaster. She wanted to do anything to help. Crowley stares at her, not saying anything. She is about to do some more begging when he speaks.

“The magic stone for this chandelier was mined in the Dwarf’s Mine,” he says. “If you were to find that stone, it might be possible to repair it. However, I have no guarantee that there are any left in the mine. The mine has been closed for a while and it’s very possible it’s exhausted of crystals.” He looks down at Dove, probably seeing the determination in her eyes. He looks over at the rest of the group before sighing. “...Very well. I shall give you one night. Come to me with a magic crystal by tomorrow morning or face expulsion.” Yes! She doesn’t care if this has the slimmest chance of success; they have a chance.

“Yes sir!” she says, smiling. Looking back at the other two, she sees Deuce with a determined look on his face. Ace, although looks like he doesn’t want to do work, wisely doesn’t complain. “How do we get to the mines?” she asks.

“Use the Gate in the Mirror Chamber to go directly to the Dwarf’s Mine.” he answers.

“Yessir!” Deuce says before running out of the room.

“W-wait!” Dove yells, running after him.

◢▅◣Ξ◥▅◤Ξ◢▅◣Ξ◥▅◤

They’re back where it all started: the Mirror Chamber. But, as she looks around, she doesn’t understand: where is the Gate?

“Why did it turn out like this...Today is not my day.” Ace groans, annoyed.

“Now is not the time to be mumbling!” Deuce says.

“How are we going to get there?” Dolphina asks. “I don’t see a Gate anywhere.” Dove watches as Deuce turns to the mirror.

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall,” he says. “Light our way to the Dwarf’s MIne.” The mirror swirls a pattern before suddenly flashing white.

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	9. Unintentional Trouble!/Tough Spot!/Selfish Three!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group travels to the Dwarfs' Mine to try and find a replacement crystal. However, their journey is not easy...

There were only two things that went through Stell’s mind.

One: the mirror could also act as a gate. Even with all the magic that she has seen, this still surprised her.

Second: the mine itself was scary. It seemed to be in the middle of a forest, dark in ambiance and sounds of unseen animals. There is a mine entrance, completely abandoned and worn down. Although it was terrifying, it reminded her of her home, especially the woods outside her home. The others, however, were more cautious about the atmosphere, more scared than others. Deuce takes a look around.

“So this is the Dwarf’s Mine,” he says, impressed. “It used to be prosperous thanks to magic crystal mining, but now…”

“Abandoned.” Dove says. Stell feels shaking on her arm, finding Grim gripping it.

“Feels like something could jump out at us.” Grim stammers. Ace gets their attention.

“Look. There’s a house back there.” He points in the direction. There is a small house, but no lights are on. “Let’s go ask them about the mine.” The group walked to the front door of the house. Dove knocks on the door.

“Hello?” she calls out. However, the door slowly opens. With a look at each other, Dove opens the rest of the door open. Inside was abandoned spiderwebs at every corner, and furniture dusty.

“I guess the occupants left too after the mine closed.” Stell observes as they look around. She notices that the chairs at the table were small like it was made for children. Seven chairs? That’s a lot of chairs for such a small house.

“They did what they had to do.” Ace says. “After all, magic crystals are found inside coal.”

“We’ve looked around enough.” Yasmina chips in. “We should head into the mine before sunrise.”

“Agreed.” Stell agrees, and they all walk out. They make their way to the mine’s entrance. It’s abandoned and slightly unkempt, but it didn’t seem too dangerous. “Okay, everyone. Stay alert and be careful.” she says, everyone nodding except Grim.

“W-We’re gonna go in that pitch-black hole?” Grim asks, frightened.

“Scared? Lame.” Ace teases.

“I’m not sc-scared at all!” Grim says, offended before moving to the front of the group. “I’m taking the lead! You guys follow me.” They all go inside the mines. As they walked in, the cave wasn’t too dark; moonlight shines through the holes in the ceiling, bathing the cave in a dull blue light. However, as they scan the walls, there are no stones at all. Maybe it was hopeless to come in here and try to find this stone, but Dove seemed so confident and sure that they could do this. It hasn’t even been a full two days, and so much has happened-

“Wait!” Deuce says, stopping the group.

“What?” Ace asks, annoyed.

“Something...is there.” he says, pointing down a dark hallway. At first, they see nothing...until the shadows move. Two ghosts materialize in front of them, dawned in black cloaks.

“Heee heee heee! Our first guests in ten years.” one of the ghosts says.

“Make yourselves at home...for eternity!” the other says, laughing. The others are frozen.

“What are we going to do?” Dove asks. “Even if we engage them in a fight, it’ll take too much time.”

“We’ll run 'til we lose the ghosts! Come on!” Deuce yells, and everyone runs down a tunnel. The entire gang runs through the mines, the ghosts following after them.

“They’re still chasing after us!” Grim yells before grabbing onto Alex.

“We’ve dealt with ghosts before. Why are you so freaked out?” she asks, not missing a step. He doesn’t answer, mostly because he’s freaking out. They go down different ways, ducking into corners, and doing everything they can do to get away from the ghosts.

The group hides around a corner, staying in the shadows. They watch as the ghosts float by and, after a few more seconds, they all walk out of their hiding spot.

“I think they’re gone.” Alex says. They take a breather.

“This place is haunted with ghosts too.” Ace says.

“We don’t have time to deal with them right now. Let’s go!” Deuce walks in the direction they were in before, but Ace seems to have had enough.

“Don’t think you can just order me around.” Ace says. “If you hadn’t done something so idiotic, we wouldn’t be in this mess.” Deuce turns back to Ace.

“You wanna talk about who started it? It’s because you wouldn’t clean the windows!” Deuce yells back.

“It started when that furball burned the Queen of Hearts’ statue!” Ace retorts.

“That’s what you get for making a fool outta me!” Grim defended himself.

“Stop arguing!” Stell intervenes. “We don’t have the luxury to be fighting each other right now. If we don’t find this magical crystal by tomorrow morning, we’re all in trouble.”

“Right, and who’s idea was it to get this crystal?” Yasmina speaks up, a pointed glare to Dove. Dolphina steps in.

“Don’t blame her. She was just trying to help.” She defends the other girl.

“Helping who, exactly? It certainly wasn’t to help us.” Amelia steps up to the purple-haired girl.

“Hey, watch it. If you’re going to blame anyone, blame the idiots with magic.” She points to Grim, Deuce, and Ace, who all get offended. The entire group continues to argue, some trying to break the fight, others blaming each other. Dove stands there, watching the fight.  _ Yasmina is right; this whole goose chase is my fault. I just wanted to help... _ She shuts her eyes, holding the tears back. This was all her fault. She just wanted to help and only made it worse. She just wants them to…

“STOP FIGHTING!” she screams. It echoes throughout the mine, fading as it travels further in. When she opened her eyes, everyone was staring at her, shocked by her loud tone. She hasn’t raised her voice like that in so long, even though she’s been frustrated since she got here.  _ I just did that, _ she thinks before panicking.  _ The ghosts definitely heard me, and they’re probably going to come back and delay them further from getting the stone! What have I done?  _ Before she can apologize, a cold chill brushes along the back of her neck. However, it’s when it speaks that Dove knows that it’s not a regular ghost.

“Won’t...give... won’t…” It was deep and threatening, but the words were muffled like it was gargling liquid. She looks to her group, wide-eyed, and knows from the expression on their faces meant: fear.

“Wh-what the hell is that?” Ace stammers, staring at whatever it was behind her.

“Stone….on...is...mine…” A large shadow looms over her.

“Dove…” Stell says quietly. “You need to come to us. Now.” But she is frozen, too afraid to move. Suddenly, something drips in her hair. Her hand goes up and feels the liquid before looking at her hand. It was a black liquid. Is this...ink? Curiosity gets the better of her; instead of running to her group, she slowly turns around. It was a large creature, wearing a large crimson coat with a brown belt and gold buttons, a brown hat on its head. However, the head was like an ink jar for quills, except there was a huge crack in the middle, making some of the ink spill out. It carried a large pickaxe in its left hand while carrying a lantern, glowing purple fire, in it’s right.

“Stone...IS MIIIIINE!” It screams at them. It raises its weapon high in the air, about to strike her.

“Dove, get out of there!” She is too scared to figure out who says that, and she’s too frightened to move. Just as the creature is about to strike her, someone grabs her and pulls her away just in time.

“RUN!” Everyone runs away from the creature. Once Dove comes to her senses, she sees that Ace was the one who grabbed her hand. Him? Out of everyone to grab her…

“What the hell is that thing?” Deuce yells.

“You want to ask him?” Amelia responds back, sarcastically. None of this stops them from running.

“The headmaster didn’t say anything about a monster in the mine!” Dolphina exclaims.

“It’s so nasty!” Ace exclaims. He was right; something about that thing was wrong. It’s an inky face, creepy voice...a voice that was saying something: something... stone.

“Stone...it knows about the crystal!” Dove exclaims to the others. This makes the group stop and look at her.

“What are you talking about?” Ambrosia asks. Before she could elaborate, the creature catches up to them.

“Stone... won’t...give..!” it yells.

“So there really are magical crystals left!” Deuce says.

“N-n-n-n-n-nope! Nope!” Grim yells, shaking his head. “I’m a genius, but I can’t beat that thing!”

“But we’ll be expelled without it…” Deuce then takes out his pen. “I’m going to stop him!”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Ace exclaims.

“You can’t fight him by yourself!” Dove exclaims, but he ignores her.

“I cannot, under any circumstances, be expelled!” Deuce exclaims before shooting magic at the beast. The monster was stronger than they thought. It just swipes whatever magic Deuce throws at him.

“Leave! Leave!! LEAVE!!!!!” it screams before smacking Deuce into the wall. Ace jumps in.

“Stand back if you have no control, Mr. Serious! I’ll stop it!” Ace exclaims before taking out his wand and uses wind magic on it. However, it doesn’t affect the monster at all and also back-hands him to the wall. Grim cowers with the girls.

“Stay away!” he screams before shooting fire at it. Just like the other attacks, it does nothing to it.

“None of their magic is working!” Alex exclaims. As Dove helps Deuce and Ace, she looks back at the monster. In the tunnel behind it, something sparkles.

“Was that..?” she starts but is interrupted when the monster roars at them.

“Let’s go!” Stell orders, and they all run. She could hear the monster roaring behind them.

◢▅◣Ξ◥▅◤Ξ◢▅◣Ξ◥▅◤

The group doesn’t stop running until they are out of the mine and back at the cottage.

“Is this far enough?” Grim pants heavily.

“I think it’ll go as far as the entrance from the mine.” Ambrosia observes.

“The hell was that thing?” Yasmina exclaims. Dove looks over Ace, who is holding onto his side in pain.

“Are you okay?” she asks. He nods, waving it off.

“I’m fine. Just wish someone could’ve told us  _ that _ was going to be there.” he answers.

“It didn’t seem like any old ghost.” Deuce says.

“Let’s give up and go home. I’d rather get expelled than fight that thing.” Ace says, shrugging. Deuce stares at him, dumbfounded.

“Wha?! Don’t screw with me!” the other boy says. “I’d rather die than face expulsion! There’s a magic crystal right in front of us, and you wanna go home?!”

“Ha. You talk big for someone worse at magic than me. Go alone if you want. I’m done.” Ace is about to turn and leave before Deuce yells at him.

“Oh, that right? Then stay right there cowering like a spineless coward!” he yells. His tone completely shifts, now a little scarier. Ace turns back, smirking.

“Huh? Coward? Who exactly are you talking about?” he says, Deuce still fuming.

“Uh, Deuce.” Grim says, confused. “Did you switch up your character?” Like a spell, Deuce clears his throat before calming down.

“A-ahem! My bad. I lost my composure a bit…” he says softly, looking down. Everyone is confused and conflicted, Dove especially. She didn’t want to give up, since they were so close to getting that stone.

“Is there any magic that can help at all?” she asks.

“Like the headmaster said earlier: magic isn’t all-powerful.” Deuce reminds her. “If you can’t imagine it, then it won’t materialize. Large-scale or complicated magic requires a lot of training to use.”

“But that’s why we have magic schools.” Ace says. “You have to practice a lot to use magic just as it comes to mind. Basically, you’ll screw up if you lose your cool.”

“But we’ve seen you guys use your magic willy-nilly.” Yasmina points out.

“You can use instinct for the stuff you’re good at.” Ace explains.

“At any rate,” Deuce says, turning back to the mine. “I’m going in there. I’ll figure out how to beat that thing and come back with a magic crystal.” Ace laughs.

“Unlikely. Judging by the chandelier incident, you’re a complete idiot. You couldn’t land a single hit earlier, but now you’re going to “figure it out”? It’s going to end the same.” Deuce immediately returns back to the other personality.

“Come again?!” he yells. “You think of-”

“Knock it off!” Everyone jumps, turning to Dove. Unlike the caves, it didn’t echo out, but it was still loud. However, it sounded a lot more heartbreaking. Dove didn’t even realize tears were streaming down her face; she became so frustrated with this situation…

“Why are you shouting all of a sudden?” Grim asks.

“All of this is my fault.” she answers, still crying. “I pushed the idea that we could get this stone on time without trying to talk to anyone else. I’m not someone who knows magic and was never supposed to be here. None of you would be facing expulsion if I just didn’t say anything…” She feels someone hugging her right side. She turns her head to see Dolphina is the one hugging her.

“It’s not your fault, Dove. None of us could do anything back there.” she says, reassuring her. Was she crying that bad? She looks up to the boys, who looked shocked and...a bit guilty? As she wipes her eyes dry, she hears Stell address the group.

“We have to come up with a proper strategy.” she says.

“Strategy? You mean get along and work together?” Ace asks, smirking. “That’s cold. You have no problem saying lame things with a serious face, huh.”

“Agreed.” Deuce says, crossing his arms. “No way I’m working with this loser.”

“So, it would be better to get expelled on the first day of a prestigious, magical college.” she points out. The two are quiet, knowing the answer to that.

“...ugh. Fine!” Ace says, agreeing. “We just have to get it done, right?” Deuce nods. They’re finally going to try and work together...Dove smiles as Stell gives them a plan idea…

◢▅◣Ξ◥▅◤Ξ◢▅◣Ξ◥▅◤

After they finish planning, they all meet in front of the mines. Grim is still nervous.

“You...really think it’ll go as planned? I’m sca-no. Just nervous.” he says.

“If we work together, it’ll work.” Stell says. Everyone nods. Dove is slightly stiff. After her little outburst, she’s been a little been more cautious. Suddenly, she feels a slight bump on her arm. She looks, seeing Ace smirking at her.

“Haha, you’re too stiff.” he says to her, winking. “Just go with the flow. Let’s get this over with!” It makes her smile a little more. They can do this!

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	10. United Front First!/Tenacious Chase!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The groups devises a plan to get rid of the monster and take the crystal back to the school.

Stell, Ambrosia, Alex, Dolphina, Amelia, and Yasmina start making noise outside the entrance of the mine: Stell whistles, Ambrosia and Alex make noises using pots and pans from the cottage, Amelia and Yasmina scream and yell. Dove, Ace, Deuce, and Grim wait on the side for their cues. After a few seconds, the monster comes out of the entrance.

“LEAVE!” it growls out.

“It’s coming!” Amelia yells. They continue getting the monster’s attention, leading it further and further from the entrance. Just a little more...just a little more... It’s far away from the entrance!

“Now!” Stell yells. Ace and Grim get up and run in front of it.

“Ok, I got this! Let’s go, Extra Large Tempest!” Ace yells, pulling out his pen.

“The Great Grim’s Fire Special!” Grim yells. Simultaneously, both unleash their magic abilities and create a large inferno and cover the monster. While it’s distracted, Dove runs into the mine to grab the crystal. It’s working!

“Deuce, your turn!” Stell yells out. The other boy takes a breath.

“Calm down...Take aim...The biggest, heaviest thing I know…” he does a silent mantra before taking out his pen. “Come forth, cauldron!” he yells before a cauldron materializes and drops on top of the beast, knocking it down.

“We did it!” Grim yells, happy. “Hey look! The monster looks flat as a pancake just like Ace earlier!” He laughs while Ace pouts.

“You don’t need to bring that up again! Jeez, today just isn’t my day.” Ace says, sighing.

“Now, let’s just keep the monster there until Dove comes back with the crystal.” Stell says. However, the monster moves.

“Noooooo...MINE!” it yells before trying to get up.

“Damn it!” Amelia curses before looking at Deuce. “Throw more stuff at it!”

“S-something heavy?” he stammers before waving his pen. “Come forth, cauldron!” Another cauldron slams on top of the monster. He does it two more times, knocking the monster down but not stopping him.

“You have nothing but cauldrons in your repertoire!?” Ace yells.

“Shut up! I’m at my wit’s end!” Deuce yells back.

“Guys, here she comes!” Dolphina points their attention to Dove, who runs out of the mine. She is holding a crystal, full of colors.

“I got it!” she yells at them. However, the monster notices and pushes off the cauldrons.

“MINE!” it screams at her.

“DOVE!”

Before the monster can advance on her, blue flames cover the monster. As it screams, Dove gets out of the way and joins the others. “Dove, are you okay?” Stell asks. The other girl nods. “Let’s get out of here!” Without a moment’s hesitation, they run towards the forest. But, even though they try their hardest, the monster keeps coming after them.

“Shoot! It’s gonna catch up to us!” Deuce yells. As they ran, Ambrosia noticed something about the monster;. However, it was catching up to them; it was slowing down and having trouble catching up to them. It was weak and will stop at nothing to get the stone back. She stops, making the others stop as well.

“What are you doing?” Stell questions. “We need to keep running.”

“The monster is weak.” she states. “If we don’t defeat it now, we’ll never get the stone back on time.” They do think about this; she knew that she had a point.

“Fine! Let’s finish it!” Ace yells, taking out his pen. “Don’t let me down, Mr. Serious.” Deuce nods before pulling out his own pen.

“You too!” the other boy says back.

“I’ll show off my true power!” Grim says. They stand in front of the other girls as the monster comes up to them. As they prepare to fight, something flashes in her eyes. Not like the flash of the stone earlier or any light, but something showed her...the monster’s weakness? She didn’t notice this before because they tried to escape, but the monster had a specific weak spot: the chest. It should be obvious, but it was something she couldn’t avoid. She looked to the other girls and, yes, they had the same expression on their faces. They knew how to take down the monster.

“Guys, aim for its chest!” Dove yells to the three magicians.

“What?” Ace yells, shooting wind at the monster. “How do you know that?”

“Just trust us.” she says.

“We’re already taking care of this guy!” Grim yells, throwing more fireballs at it.

“Listen, we don’t know how to explain it, but we know that the monster’s weak point is there.” Stell says, pointing in the direction of the monster’s chest. “We just have to work together and trust each other to end it.” The monster roars at them, getting more aggressive with its own attacks.

“How are we going to hit the chest?” Deuce asks. It’s true; they only know how to temporarily take down the monster, but to hit it hard like that will be tricky.

“I have an idea.” Stell says before turning to Dove. “Give me the stone.”

“What are you going to do?” Dove asks, giving her the crystal.

“They need a clear shot to the creature, and the creature wants the crystal. If we can keep its attention on us, we can trap it with Grim’s fire, and then Ace and Deuce can finish it off.” Stell explains.

“And how are we supposed to do that?” Yasmina questions.

“Like this.” Stell says before running to come side of the monster. “Hey!” she calls out, getting the monster’s attention. She shows the creature the crystal.

“Is she insane?” Ace says.

“No...she’s a genius.” Amelia says. The creature looms towards her, getting closer and closer… “Grim, block him!” Grim shoots out a fireball between Stell and the monster, making it jump back. It made sense now what they had to do. Amelia took the next stage, getting the stone from Stell and running on another side, getting the monster’s attention. Soon, all of the girls cover each corner of the monster, fire caging it in. They passed the crystal from person to person to keep the monster’s attention until it finally passed to Dove. Once the monster comes close enough to her, Ace and Deuce point their magical pens at the monster.

“Ice!” they yell, ice shooting out of the pens. The blast hits the monster directly in the chest. The monster screams in pain as it starts steaming. The ink bursts, and the monster gets consumed in ink, dripping into nothing onto the ground.

“We...did it?” Ace asks, dumbfounded. Their shock soon turns into smiles and laughter.

“W-We won...We actually won!” Grim exclaims, happy. The three magicians high-five each other.

“You’re getting along well now.” Ambrosia says to the three. They stare at her before becoming flustered, moving away from each other.

“Ah. N-no. This is nothing like that!” Deuce says, flustered.

“Y-yeah! Could you stop saying weird things?” Ace adds.

“We won thanks to my genius!” Grim says. “It’s not because we pooled our strength!”

“It’s actually thanks to Stell’s plan.” Ambrosia corrects, looking at the girl. Once the attention is on her, she blushes.

“...I guess making excuses is pretty lame.” Ace admits, smiling. “I hate to admit it, but we won thanks to your plan.”

“True.” Deuce chimes in. “We got the magic crystal because you gave us level headed instructions.” She watches as Stell turns more flustered. Dove shows everyone the magic crystal.

“Now that we have this, no one is getting expelled.” she says, smiling. “I’m just happy that we’re all okay.”

“Now that we’re all good, we should get out of here.” Stell says. “Let’s go back to school so we can give him the crystal.” Everyone nods in agreement before they hear a stomach growl.

“I’m starving from using so much magic…” Grim whines before he spots something on the ground. “Hmm? What’s this?” They all turn to see what Grim is looking at. It’s some type of black stone on the ground, the same place where the monster was.

“Did that come from the monster?” Alex asks.

“It looks more like coal to me.” Dolphina says. Grim picks it up from the ground and sniffs it.

“This thing...smells really good.” he says, eyeing it hungrily.

“You can’t be serious.” Amelia states in disbelief.

“This has to be candy; the monster was hiding!” Grim says giddily. “Ohhhh, I can’t hold back! Time to dig in!” Before anyone can say anything, he eats the black jewel whole.

“He actually ate it?” Dove says, surprised. Immediately, Grim groans.

“Grim...you okay?” Stell asks.

“D...d….d...DELICIOUS!” Grim exclaims with a big grin on his face.

“WHAT?!” everyone exclaims, surprised. Even Ambrosia lets a little surprised yelp out. Did he just say that coal-looking, jagged stone was good?

“It’s full-bodied but also rich, with an aromatic sweetness that blooms in my mouth...like a whole field of flowers in my mouth!” Grim explains with a big, satisfied grin on his face.

“Blegh! Monsters really do have different tastes from us.” Ace says, disgusted.

“I guess so, but more than that...most people wouldn’t even put a mystery object in their mouth without a thought.” Deuce says.

“As long as he doesn’t eat this stone,” Dove says, pointing out the crystal. “Then we should be fine.”

“Don’t worry,” Grim assures the group. “My stomach is a lot stronger than yours.”

“Don’t come crawling to me if you get sick later.” Amelia says, huffing.

“I think we’ve been here long enough.” Yasmina brings everyone up back to the task at hand. “These woods are creepy, but I’d rather not stay here until the sun rises.”

“Agreed. Let’s head back, everyone.” Stell says, and they start walking back to where the mirror dropped them off.

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	11. Reconsideration Miracle!/Prologue Finale!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group successfully take out the monster and bring the crystal back to Crowley.

“Eh?! You really went to Dwarfs’ Mine to find a magic crystal?” Crowley exclaims, surprised. The group came back through the mirror and gave the headmaster the crystal. Everyone is shocked by the headmaster’s surprise. “I really didn’t think...Not only did you go, but you came back with a crystal in hand. I quietly completed the paperwork for your expulsion.”

“The nerve!” Grim exclaims, upset. “He did this all while we were trying to fight a beast!”

“A beast?” Crowley asks, confused.

“There was a monster there!” Ace explains. “It was super gross and crazy strong. It was awful!” Crowley cocks his head to the side. He really doesn’t know what they’re talking about.

“Could you explain in more detail?” Crowley asks them.

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The group moves to the headmaster’s office as they explain what happened. It was a big room with floating portraits of the Seven and a desk.

“A mysterious monster living in the coal mine.” Crowley says, recounting the events they just told him. “All of you worked together to defeat it and bring back a magic crystal?”

“We didn’t really work together…” Ace says, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

“It was more like our goals were aligned…” Deuce adds, crossing his arms.

“Oh...ohhh...OHHHH!” Suddenly, Crowley starts crying and freaks out the others in the room.

“Why is he crying?” Alex asks, unnerved by the sudden change in mood.

“Ummm...headmaster Crowley?” Stell tries to comfort the headmaster.

“In all these years that I’ve been headmaster...For the day to come that students from Night Raven College go hand-in-hand to face and defeat their enemy!” Crowley exclaims.

“What?! I did not hold this guy’s hand!” Deuce says defensively.

“I don’t think he means that literally.” Dove chimes in.

“I am overwhelmed with emotion!” Crowley says.

“Clearly.” Yasmina sarcastically remarks quietly. Crowley takes a moment to recover before he speaks again.

“This incident confirms it. Stellarmonia, Dove, Amelia, Alex, Ambrosia, Yasmina, Dolphina; without a doubt, you have the talents as beast tamers!”

“Beast tamers?” Stell asks.

“Students of Night Raven College are budding wizards called here by the Dark Mirror. However, they are of a superior class that makes them prideful and egotistical people that have not even the slightest inkling to work with others, making many of them selfish and self-centered.” Crowley explains.

“You’re really not saying anything good.” Grim murmurs.

“The seven of you can’t use magic, but that might be a good thing. Without a magical ability, you could give instructions to wizards and get them to cooperate. Perhaps that mediocrity is exactly what this school needs right now!” Crowley says, smiling. Maybe she wouldn’t use that word, but was this true..? “I have no doubt that your existence is essential to the future of this academy. So says my educator-senses.” He turns to the two boys. “Trappola. Spade. Along with rescinding your expulsion, I shall give you the qualifications to attend Night Raven College as students!”

“EHH?!” Everyone in the room is surprised. They were actually going to be students?

“Even though we can’t use magic, you want us to be students?” Stell asks.

“Yes, for I am exceedingly gracious. But, there is one condition.” he says. “Indeed, you cannot use magic, so becoming a wizard is out of the question. You probably will not be able to complete all your lessons. That is why, Grim,” He turns to Grim. “You have proven to me that you possess enough talent to become a wizard. Therefore, I shall allow you to enroll as magical surrogates.” Grim is taken aback.

“I...I can go to this academy too..? Not as a handyman, but as a student?” Grim asks, dumbfounded.

“Yes.” Crowley asks. “Provided that you don’t ever let an incident like yesterday occur again! Do we have an agreement?” But Grim isn’t listening; he’s on the verge of happy tears.

“We can...we can…” he mumbles, clearly happy.

“You did it, Grim!” Dolphina says.

“I did it!” Grim cheers. Crowley smiles.

“Well then, I shall give the symbol of your status as a student of Night Raven College: a magic crystal.” With a snap of his fingers, a dark purple crystal appears on Grim’s neck like a collar.

“A magic crystal?” Grim asks.

“It is the norm for students to have their magic crystals in the form of a magical pen, but you wouldn’t be able to grip it in your paws.” Crowley says. “It’s a special custom. I pay attention to even the smallest details. Aren’t I too gracious?” Grim is bouncing around, showing off his crystal.

“I did it! I’m so cool! I got my own magic crystal collar!” he says excitedly.

“He isn’t listening at all…” Crowley points out.

“We’ll make sure to keep an eye on him.” Stell says. He nods.

“Good. That’s why I want to make you the Perfect of your group.” he says. Stell looks baffled.

“A Perfect?” she asks.

“A supervisor to the group, like a Dorm leader.” he explains. She blushes and looks to the others, who are all looking pleased.

“Are you all okay with this?” she asks.

“It was your idea that helped us get the crystal.” Yasmina points out. “Besides, it’s a good thing that you’ve already put yourself in a leadership role.” Her tone is teasing, different from the other times she’s brought the whole “leadership” topic up. It was strange that all of this was happening, but it all turned out alright in the end.

“Aha! Look at you.” Ace says, giving her a thumbs up. “School’s just started, and you’re a Perfect.”

“A Perfect who can’t use magic. It’s unheard of, but I’m glad it happened in your group.” Deuce says, smiling.

“I’ll... I’ll do my best!” Stell says confidently to the group. With everyone smiling, it started to feel like things were going right.

“There is one more thing I want to ask of you.” Crowley says before he gets an item from his desk and shows them. It looked like an old camera, brown and gold, with a weird three-circle design around the lens.

“A camera?” she asks.

“Not just any camera.” he corrects. “It’s nicknamed the Ghost Camera.”

“Ghost camera?” Amelia questioned.

“Ah, I think my grandma told me about that. It’s a super old magic tool, right?” Ace says.

“It is not “super old”...” Crowley pouts before clearing his throat. “It’s true that this may have been invented during your grandmother or great grandmother’s time. The camera has a special spell cast on it. It not only captures the subject’s form but also a part of their soul.”

“A part of their soul..?” Dolphina asks.

“Furthermore, the most interesting part of this magic camera is that the souls of the photographer and the photographed become deeply connected, and the Memory in the photo comes jumping out!” The group jumps back from the item.

“It comes jumping out?” Yasmina questions.

“Depending on how close the subject and photographer are, the picture could move more like a video or bring to life the situation in the photo. It’s said that it was made before the invention of video cameras when people wanted to leave behind vivid memories. Fascinating, right?” he says, smiling.  _ That’s sweet, although still strange,  _ Stell thinks. He gives the camera to her. “I have one request: please take many photos to leave behind many memories of your lives in this academy.” Grim leans over and looks at the camera.

“Take lots of cool pics of me~” he says, grinning.

“...Especially pictures of someone who steps out of line.” Crowley says, clearly talking about Grim.

“Thank you very much for this gift, headmaster.” Stell says. The others also say their thanks. Crowley nods to them.

“It is already late.” he says. “Let’s save the detailed discussions for tomorrow. Return to your dormitories, everyone.” The group bow to him before leaving the headmaster’s office.

◢▅◣Ξ◥▅◤Ξ◢▅◣Ξ◥▅◤

It was late when they walked out of the office and walked in the corridors. All at once, the entire day catches up to them, and they feel how tired they are. Deuce yawns, looking exhausted.

“Expulsion rescinded...I’m beat.” he says. Dove yawns, covering her mouth. Everyone was tired...except for Grim, who is still jumping around and singing.

“La-lala!~ I start as a student of Night Raven College tomorrow!” he sings happily. “I’m gonna leave you all in the dust and take the top spot!”

“Says someone who is one-seventh of a student.” Ace comments. Everyone laughs while Grim huffs. After the short laughter, Ace and Deuce look at the group.

“We’re going to be classmates tomorrow.” Deuce says.

“Despite everything that happened today, I’m glad that we have all met you guys.” Dove says, smiling brightly.

“Stop saying embarrassing things.” Ace says although he is hiding a smile. Deuce chuckles.

“That’s true. Even if we don’t want to, we’re going to see each other every day. I’m even in Heartslabyul with this jerk.” He points to Ace, who just rolls his eyes.

“Thinking about your serious mug every day? No thanks.” he replies.

“Come on now.” Stell interrupts. “We can continue our witty banter after we get some rest.”

“Alrighty. Goodnight.” Ace says, waving to the group.

“Goodnight.” Deuce says.

“Goodnight.” The group spoke together. The boys turn and walk down the opposite way back to their dorms as the girls and Grim continue down to their dorm.

“Those two make a good combo.” Dove says. “I hope we see them more often.”

“I think you just want to see them again.” Alex comments, smiling while Dove blushes a little. The rest giggle.

“Let’s head back to the dorm.” Grim says. “Tomorrow, we aren’t handymen! Finally...finally!” Grim is so happy that he looks like he’ll have tears in his eyes.

“Looks like you got your wish, after all, you little furball.” Amelia points out. Grim just grins. It was all surreal; they were in a new world, no idea why they are here or how they’ll get home, but it didn’t matter. At least, not at that moment. Their first two days weren’t ideal, but it worked out well enough by the end of it all. There was still a lot to do and new discoveries for them to explore.

For now, their bright and shiny academy life at Night Raven College will soon begin.


End file.
